Elrich proposes 3.5% property tax rate increase to fund MCPS budget

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich announced Friday he is proposing a 3.5% property tax rate increase in order to fully fund Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) $3.65 billion budget request for the upcoming fiscal year.

The proposed property tax increase is part of Elrich’s recommended $7.6 billion county operating budget plan for fiscal year 2026, which he released during a briefing Friday morning in Rockville. The spending plan represents an increase of 7.4% from the county’s current $7.1 billion operating budget. The budget proposal now heads to the County Council for review and approval.

Elrich defended his proposed tax increase, noting “the most valuable asset this county has is its schools.”..

Elrich proposes 3.5% property tax rate increase to fund MCPS budget - Bethesda Magazine

Marc Elrich on @MCPS: "I don't think...you're gonna find a lot of waste and abuse..."

October 28, 2024 

FY26 Community Conversation Operating Budget Forum - Virtual (7-8:30 pm)

Superintendent Taylor: Instruction is Not Our #1 Priority @mcps @mocoboe

"Despite the delays, Montgomery County Public Schools did not end its relationship with Highland Electric Fleets — or enforce penalties for the company’s lapses, the inspector general found"

 

Probe finds ‘wasteful spending’ in Montgomery electric school bus effort

An electric bus company that was supposed to deliver hundreds of vehicles to the Maryland’s largest school district repeatedly missed delivery deadlines and made late repairs to its vehicles, leading to “millions of dollars in wasteful spending,” according to a report from Montgomery County inspector general criticizing the district’s handling of the contract.

Despite the delays, Montgomery County Public Schools did not end its relationship with Highland Electric Fleets — or enforce penalties for the company’s lapses, the inspector general found. Now the district is spending more than $14 million to buy diesel buses as it faces a vehicle shortage...

https://wapo.st/3MvBTXE

REMINDER FOR BOE ELECTION: Confirmed: Board President Karla Silvestre and Vice President Shebra Evans Violated Maryland Law in Hiring Outside Law Firm without Board of Education Approval.

 https://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2023/09/confirmed-board-president-karla.html

Breaking: Superintendent McKnight Kills MCPS Electric School Bus Scheme, Orders 90 Diesel School Buses @mcps @mocoboe

We already know what the excuses will be from MCPS' public information office.  So, let's get the facts out right away.  MCPS will still fib to the Board of Education and the public, but readers of this blog will know the truth. 

1. MCPS buys approximately 120 school buses each year.  School buses have a 12 year useful life in Maryland and 1/12th of the fleet is replaced each year.  MCPS has in total about 1,400 school buses. (Annual expenditure $15M - $17M for 2016-2019.)

2. Superintendent Monifa McKnight is bringing a Resolution before the Board of Education on Thursday, October 12, 2023, to purchase 90 diesel school buses for $14,749,919.

3.  Remember that the Board of Education has already approved a scheme to transition the entire school bus fleet to electric school buses. 

4. By FY 2024 the annual MCPS purchase of 120 school buses was to be for only electric school buses as specified in the executed Transportation Equipment Services Agreement.  (Image shown above.)

4. Remember that the MCPS nationally lauded electric school bus scheme was to be BUDGET NEUTRAL. 

5.  Remember that the Parents' Coalition asked for the numbers that showed the electric school bus scheme was budget neutral and we were told that no such documents existed. 

6.  Supposedly, MCPS just bought 64 special education diesel school buses in 2022.   Well, the Resolution didn't say that that the diesel buses were for special education use, but that was the story that the MCPS public information officer told the press when pressed for an explanation.  

7. And this is IMPORTANT! THERE ARE VENDORS WHO MAKE AND PROVIDE SPECIAL EDUCATION WHEELCHAIR LIFT ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES.  (MCPS likes to say there is no such vendor. That is a lie.)

The Resolution before the Board of Education this week does not explain why MCPS suddenly needs to purchase 90 special education school buses on top of the 64 special education school buses they supposedly purchased last year.  

If the Board of Education spends $14.8 million this week on 90 special education school buses, they will only be able to add about 33 electric school buses to their fleet based on their annual school bus budget.  (We are guessing at the exact number of electric school buses because it is a complete mystery as to what the cost of one electric school bus is under the Board of Education's scheme.) 

No matter what is going on at MCPS with regard to the annual replacement of school buses the following are clear:

1. The Board of Education's "budget-neutral" electric school bus scheme is no longer "budget neutral." The Board of Education can't possibly transition to an all-electric school bus fleet while continuing to buy diesel school buses and claim the scheme is budget neutral.  

2.  The MCPS nationally touted transition to an electric school bus fleet has been derailed. 

Confirmed: Board President Karla Silvestre and Vice President Shebra Evans Violated Maryland Law in Hiring Outside Law Firm without Board of Education Approval.

At today's Montgomery County Council hearing on MCPS' handling of sexual harassment allegations made regarding a recently promoted principal, questions were raised about the contract to hire the outside law firm Jackson Lewis, PC.

In response to a question from a Councilmember, Board of Education President Karla Silvestre confirmed what the Parents' Coalition had uncovered on August 23, 2023, that Ms. Silvestre was operating outside of the authority of the Board of Education in hiring Jackson Lewis PC to run an "investigation."  The video below shows the question and Ms. Silvestre's answer.    

The Jackson Lewis PC law firm was not hired by the Montgomery County Board of Education to perform any investigation.  

The law firm was hired by Ms. Silvestre, Ms. Evans and Superintendent McKnight during a private meeting that did not comply with Maryland law with regard to Board of Education actions or with regard to public school procurement laws, policies or procedures. 

Board of Education - Publications: Handbook - Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD | Montgomery County Public Schools | Rockville, MD (montgomeryschoolsmd.org)

   

Board of Education - Members - Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD | Montgomery County Public Schools | Rockville, MD (montgomeryschoolsmd.org)

County Executive Marc Elrich, "...disturbing that those involved in promoting a principal did not feel an obligation to follow up on details of an investigation..."

 

Breaking: Board of Education President Karla Silvestre Violates MD Law

 

Board of Education - Publications: Handbook - Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD | Montgomery County Public Schools | Rockville, MD (montgomeryschoolsmd.org)

§ 3-903 - Meetings :: 2013 Maryland Code :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia

Montgomery County Board of Education President Karla Silvestre has decided that Maryland State law governing the power of Boards of Education doesn't apply to her.  She has sent out the letter shown below and stated that it represents actions of the Board of Education.  

The Board of Education has not held a legally constituted session since July 20, 2023.  

The Montgomery County Board of Education has not met and has not taken any action in open or closed session to address the Beidleman investigation or to hire an investigator.  

Ms. Silvestre speaks for only herself in the letter shown below.  

6th Person Sent to Prison in Scheme that Brought School Bus Stop Arm Cameras to Montgomery County, MD. MCPS Fmr Dir Todd Watkins Met with Rick Sorrells in Dallas. @mcps @mocoboe

Reminder:  In 2015, MCPS former Director of Transportation Todd Watkins flew to Dallas and met with Dallas Schools Superintendent Rick Sorrells to discuss school bus stop arm cameras through the vendor Force Multiplier Solutions.  Todd Watkins signed MCPS to participate in this no bid scheme and it is still in use today.  After the company was investigated and 6 people connected to the scheme were convicted and sentenced, the company changed its name and became Bus Patrol America. 

Lawyer Sentenced to Prison for Concealing Bribes in DCS Scandal

By Scott Friedman • Published December 10, 2020 • Updated on December 10, 2020 at 3:53 pm

A federal judge in Dallas has sentenced an attorney to six months in federal prison for his role in the bribery scandal that spelled the end of Dallas County Schools, the agency that used to operate the school buses for Dallas ISD and a number of other local school districts. 

New Orleans lawyer Richard Reynolds is the sixth person to be sentenced in connection with an FBI investigation into the financial collapse of DCS, a scandal first uncovered in a months-long NBC 5 investigation.

Reynolds admitted he used his law firm to help facilitate and conceal some of the bribe payments made by school bus camera company owner Robert Leonard to Dallas County schools superintendent Rick Sorrells. Leonard and Sorrells are currently serving seven-year terms in federal prison, for their roles in the scheme which involved more than $3 million dollars in bribes and kickbacks which Sorrells spent on items including a Maserati, jewelry, and a luxury New Orleans vacation apartment, where NBC 5 Investigates found Sorrells in 2017.

The scandal at DCS stretched all the way to Dallas City Hall, where Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway admitted taking $450,000 in bribes, some of that in exchange for a vote that allowed the DCS bus camera program to continue operating. Caraway is serving a four and a half year...

Lawyer Sentenced to Prison for Concealing Bribes in DCS Scandal – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth (nbcdfw.com)

Bus Patrol America, BusPatrol, David McBain, Force Multiplier Solutions, Marc Elrich, Richard Hetherington, Todd Watkins, Tom Didone, Rick Sorrells, Richard Reynolds, Robert Leonard, Dwaine Caraway, Slater Swartwood Sr, Larry Duncan

***Breaking*** Atty Gen of MD Letter of Advice: County Council Violates State Law when it appoints, swears-in, and seats its appointees to the MNCPPC before the County Executive’s 30-day veto period expires. [Which is what they did in October of 2022.]

Exclusive:

Ag Lett of Advice Mncppc by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

Montgomery College Down 9,010 Students Since 2010. From 26,147 credit students to 17,137.

Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: UPDATED: Montgomery College Enrollment Continues Dropping as MCPS Enrollment Increases (parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com)

County Council wants Planning Board member who would push for elimination of single-family zoning & parking requirements.

In 2022, Montgomery County Council's Planning Board appointee James Hedrick posted the following statement on Twitter in response to a Tweet about climate change from Montgomery County Councilmember Evan Glass.

Fact: climate change is causing more flooding in the D.C. region.

We must reduce our carbon emissions, green our buildings and transportation networks, and upgrade our sewer systems.

There’s no time to wait.

— Evan Glass (@EvanMGlass) August 10, 2022

Council wants Planning Board Member that will Overcrowd Schools: Council's Pick James Hedrick for Planning Board Supports Elimination of Housing Moratoriums in Areas with Crowded Schools.

Richard Montgomery High School parking lot classroom trailers.

More on why Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich would veto the Montgomery County Council's selection of James Hedrick as a member of the Montgomery County Planning Board. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elrich to Council: I Matter

...It’s also not surprising that he would veto [James] Hedrick.  I can’t speak to Elrich’s characterization of Hedrick’s temperament and social media statements.  But consider Hedrick’s responses to Greater Greater Washington’s questionnaire.  His positions included:

Wanting to build more than 100,000 housing units by 2040, a larger number than the planning department’s target of 60,000.

Support for the recently passed Thrive 2050 development plan.

Support for legalizing duplexes countywide.

Support for eliminating housing moratoriums in areas with crowded schools...

Elrich to Council: I Matter - Montgomery Perspective

Disapproval of the Appointment of James Hedrick to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission

More on County Council's selection of James Hedrick for the Montgomery County Planning Board.

Appointment of James Hedric... by Parents' Coalition of Montg...

Exclusive: Financial Disclosure Forms for James Hedrick: What those Forms Did Not Disclose. #MontgomeryCountyPlanningBoard

Below is the Financial Disclosure Statement filed for Montgomery County Planning Board applicant James Hedrick. 

Mr. Hedrick has been appointed by the Montgomery County Council to take a seat on the Montgomery County Planning Board.  Under Section 15-103 of the Land Use Article of the Md. Code Ann., the Montgomery County Executive must approve or disapprove the Planning Board appointments within 30 days. If no communication is received, the appointments are approved.

Mr. Hedrick's Financial Disclosure Form fails to disclose that he serves as chair of Rockville Housing Enterprises (a public housing agency).

The form also fails to disclose Mr. Hedrick's service on the board of a nonprofit Action Committee for Transit.

Anything else omitted from Mr. Hedrick's Financial Disclosure Forms?  

Montgomery County Council appoints three new Planning Board members - Pending Approval of Montgomery County Executive

March 1, 2023

Board

Shawn Bartley, James Hedrick, and Mitra Pedoeem have been appointed

WHEATON, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Board, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) is pleased to welcome three new Planning Board members appointed by the Montgomery County Council on Tuesday, February 28. The new Planning Board members include Shawn Bartley (R), James Hedrick (D), and Mitra Pedoeem (I). Contingent upon the County Executive’s approval of the appointments, the new Board members could start as early as March 9, 2023.

The outgoing temporary Planning Board members include Vice Chair Amy L. Presley, David Hill, and Cherri Branson. Since their time on the five-member Planning Board over the last four months, the Planning Board has approved 122 development plans, and reviewed and provided guidance on different stages of master plans such as the Rustic Roads Functional Master Plan, Pedestrian Master Plan, Fairland and Briggs Chaney Master Plan, the Great Seneca Plan, and the University Boulevard Corridor Plan; the Silver Spring Downtown and Adjacent Communities Plan Design Guidelines;  and studies such as the Mapping Segregation Project and Wheaton Downtown Study.

Current Planning Board Chair Jeff Zyontz and current Planning Board member Roberto Piñero will continue to serve on the Planning Board in their positions until June 2023, and until the County Council appoints their permanent replacements.

“I welcome Shawn Bartley, James Hedrick, and Mitra Pedoeem to serve on the Planning Board and congratulate them on their appointment by the Council,” said Planning Board Chair Jeff Zyontz. “I look forward to their expertise and perspective as we continue the important work of planning for the future of Montgomery County. I also offer my heartfelt gratitude to my colleagues, Vice Chair Amy Presley and Commissioners Cherri Branson and David Hill for generously giving their time, attention, and able advice over the last several months.”

Each newly appointed Planning Board member will serve the unexpired terms of the previous Planning Board members who resigned last October 2022. The terms for the newly appointed Planning Board members are:

• Shawn Bartley (R) until June 14, 2024.
• Mitra Pedoeem (I) until June 14, 2025.
• James Hedrick (D) until June 14, 2026.

Under Section 15-103 of the Land Use Article of the Md. Code Ann., the Montgomery County Executive must approve or disapprove the Planning Board appointments within 30 days. If no communication is received, the appointments are approved.

View the Montgomery County Council press release.

Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D) has a $500,000 campaign finance war chest that is overflowing with donations from development interests. Wasting no time, he has a fundraiser planned for Thursday that is co-hosted by, among others, a prominent developer, Aris Mardirossian...

Greater transparency necessary for Montgomery County development decisions

...A twin package of legislation introduced recently by state Sen. Ben Kramer (D-Montgomery) offers to take some other steps: adding some requirements for greater transparency for members of the planning board; limiting their ability to make donations to politicians; and in what some on the County Council have complained, cutting into the council’s authority to appoint all board members by allowing the executive to nominate, subject to council approval, a candidate for either chair or vice chair.

That would be a small reprise of the system in use in the late 1960s and not changed for a few decades, when the power over the board shifted back to the council. It would partly parallel the way it works now in Prince George’s County, which, with Montgomery, makes up the bi-county Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Kramer’s proposals still would leave the Montgomery County Council in charge of land use decision making, allowing it to continue to hold the power to approve or veto Planning Board development recommendations. He has proposed a task force to examine some of these issues. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday evening.

Transparency is an oft-used phrase these days in government. At the opening session on Dec. 6 of the newly elected 11-member Montgomery County Council, new members Kristin Mink (D) and Laurie-Anne Sayles (D) and returning member Will Jawando (D), put down markers on the issue of transparency, saying that there are many instances of the council operating in the dark, and calling for greater light.

Land use would be a good place to start.

Montgomery County’s system for making decisions about new development, overseen by the council, may be one of its most difficult to observe and understand. Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D) has a $500,000 campaign finance war chest that is overflowing with donations from development interests. Wasting no time, he has a fundraiser planned for Thursday that is co-hosted by, among others, a prominent  developer, Aris Mardirossian, whose Bethesda Land LLC is involved in a controversy over a promised park in downtown Bethesda...

Miranda Spivack: Greater transparency necessary for Montgomery County development decisions - Maryland Matters

Atty General Brian Frosh Responds to Parents' Coalition. The General Assembly, Governor, Comptroller, Treasurer, State's Atty, Marc Elrich or Gabe Albornoz can request an Opinion on Planning Board Appointments

On October 23, 2022, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD wrote to Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and asked the Attorney General to answer the question: Can the Montgomery County Council change the statutory term for Planning Board appointments so that they are only temporary appointments?

Today the Attorney General's office responded:  

OAG <OAG@oag.state.md.us>

To:

• You

Wed 10/26/2022 12:58 PM

Dear Ms. Sartucci,

Thank you for contacting the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.

The Attorney General is the legal counsel for the State of Maryland and its agencies. As such, this Office provides legal advice to state agencies, boards and commissions and investigates and prosecutes crimes against the State. The Office further represents the State in all cases pending in the Appellate Courts of the State, and in the U.S. Supreme Court and lower Federal Courts. To learn more about the Office of the Attorney General, follow this link: http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/ 

Under the longstanding policy of the Attorney General’s Office, we are unable to respond to requests for advisory legal opinions from private citizens.  We simply do not have the resources to undertake the many hours of legal research and writing that would be necessary to respond in the form of an official opinion to the hundreds of inquiries that our Office regularly receives from private citizens.  Instead, we must limit ourselves to opinion requests from the various State government agencies and officers that, by law, we are required to represent as well as, on occasion, to requests from local governments. See http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Pages/Opinions/faq.aspx (explaining our Office’s policy regarding official opinions). 

Thank you again for contacting our Office.

Sincerely,

Citizen Response Coordinator

Office of the Attorney General

************************************

Who can request an Opinion from the MD Attorney General's office:

...The Maryland Constitution directs that the Attorney General is to give an "opinion in writing whenever required by the General Assembly ... the Governor, the Comptroller, the Treasurer or any State's Attorney on any legal matter or subject." Article V, §3...

...a request by a local government for an Opinion of the Attorney General must be made by the chief executive of the local government or by the presiding officer of the local legislative body on behalf of the entire body...