BOE Expense Report Shows Club Dues and Conference Fees of $107,014.

 Board Semi-Annual Expenditure Report.pdf

@mcps Administrators find $$$$ for Summer Beach Conference (Teachers, still need copy paper?)

MCAAP Conference

@PrincipalKafele thanks for your inspiring keynote this am!@MCAAPMD @MCPS pic.twitter.com/sVkheDQ8vb

— Dr. Cara Grant (@CaraGrant11) June 20, 2024

MCPS Selling It on the Conference Circuit

dc23_program_0623_web1.pdf (learningforward.org)

Home - Learning Forward Annual Conference

 

Biggest Electric Bus Deal in U.S. Approved in [Montgomery County] Maryland - $169 MILLION @MCPS

A school system outside Washington is poised to become the nation’s biggest operator of electric school buses.


The Board of Education in Maryland’s Montgomery County voted unanimously on Tuesday evening to approve a 16-year, $169 million contract to lease 326 buses, part of a plan that could result in the county replacing its entire 1,422-bus fleet over the next two decades.

The deal represents the largest municipal government order of any kind for buses, according to Monique Hanis, a spokeswoman for Advanced Energy Economy, a business association that promotes clean energy use...

...The vehicles will be built by Thomas Built Buses Inc., a division of Daimler AG with electric battery technology provided by Proterra Inc. in a deal coordinated by Highland Electric Transportation Inc. Todd Watkins, the transportation director of Montgomery County Public Schools, said the contract would be the first electric school bus contract in the nation that is not dependent on federal grants...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-24/biggest-electric-school-bus-deal-in-u-s-approved-in-maryland

"On top of that, the toilet paper dispensers are extremely inefficient and only allow for 2 to 3 squares to be broken off at a time. I have over 100 signatures on a petition advocating for better toilet paper from Cabin John’s 8th Grade alone."

The second topic is purchasing more buses. MCPS has too many students and too few buses. I’ve seen the crisis going on right now when it comes to bus space and overcrowding. I have personally witnessed the horrible seating, students (including me) sitting on the floor, squeezing 5 people in a three seater and witnessing an actual fistfight over who could be the third person in a three seater. I’ve talked to hundreds of students who feel the same way.

Among the approved cuts was the $25 million that Leggett recommended trimming from Montgomery County Public Schools’ $2.5 billion annual budget.

Question:  How would County Councilmember Craig Rice know whether or not there is "fat in the central office" of MCPS?  The MCPS Operating Budget documents do not even disclose the over $8 million in Capital Budget funds that are used to fund the Operating Budget.  How can he say that there is no "fat" in the multi-millions of dollars in no bid purchases that are made every year?  What about travel, gift, and food budgets for administrators?  No fat? 

...The cuts were focused on reducing funding for the central office and administrative functions, according to the school system.
“The savings and reductions will focus more on the central office and not hit our classrooms,” Rice said. “I want to caution people out there who think there is still fat in the central office—there is not.”...http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2018/County-Council-Approves-Budget-Cuts/

BOE Taxpayer Paid for Party and Vacation List for 2016-2017

On July 12, 2016, the Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) will approve their taxpayer paid for vacation and party plans for the 2016-2017 school year.  The Parents' Coalition has previously documented the public school education dollars that are diverted to the entertainment and lodging of BOE members and MCPS administrators. 

MCPS parents would rather see education dollars being spent on these vacations and parties than on classroom teachers, and so this vacation and party list will be approved unanimously by the current Board of Education.

Note that at most, one or two of these events include actual MCPS public school students. 

In addition, this is only a partial list of vacations and parties for the year.  Additional events can and will be approved without any public notice.  See the note at the bottom of the second screenshot.

Board of Education Taxpayer Funded Vacations for 2016-2017

 Board of Education Taxpayer Funded Parties for 2016-2017

http://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/ABNMM35B5531/$file/Annual%20Ticketed%20Event%20and%20Meeting%20List%20for%2016-17.pdf

MD "Education" Dollars Pay for Vacation and Laptop Bags @mabe

In Maryland, "education" tax dollars include an annual vacation for Board of Education members to Ocean City, Maryland.  The vacation is organized by the private club that is funded by taxpayers, MABE (Maryland Association of Boards of Education.)  The Montgomery County Board of Education pays over $70,000 a year into the MABE treasury.

It looks like this year taxpayers also paid for laptop bags for the vacation attendees! See the vacation video below for a glimpse of some of the attendees and the conference swag. 

At this vacation, Board of Education members meet outside of the Maryland Open Meetings Act, and meet with select no bid vendors.  

Public school budgets in Maryland are not just about Maintenance of Effort!

Petition: McDonald's Nutrition Education Curriculum Endorsed by Maryland PTA? No Thanks!

McDonald's sponsored the Maryland PTA conference/vacation and so Maryland PTA is now pushing McDonald's.   Some parents are not pleased with the financial arrangment between Maryland PTA and this private company and have started a petition requesting that Maryland PTA sever their ties with McDonald's.

Petition:

We the undersigned are asking the Maryland PTA to:

1. Sever its sponsorship links with McDonald’s if those links require it to in any way promote the McDonald's brand or materials from McDonald's to children, teachers, parents or PTA members.

2. Send a statement to local PTAs in Maryland acknowledging the error of including these materials on the web site and stating that the fundamental mission of McDonald’s runs counter to the fundamental mission of schools, which includes educating children about good nutrition. In addition, this statement should clearly state that the Maryland PTA does not recommend the use of materials or speakers from McDonald’s for discussions of nutrition, nor fundraisers that promote foods of minimal nutritional value, such as teacher’s nights at McDonald’s.

 http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/maryland-pta-end-your-partnership-with-mcdonalds.html

BOE Spent $71,544 in Club Dues in FY 2015

It's MABE again!  Yes, that Maryland Association of Boards of Education that sucks cash out of public school systems, and for what? No one knows! But each year MABE is getting about $60,000 of the MCPS Operating Budget.  That's one classroom teacher that can not be hired because the Board of Education would rather belong to this club.

Bowers Spending $11 Million Today on Unspecified Stuff #BowersPerks

At today's Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Larry Bowers has slipped in an $11 million dollar no bid item on the Consent Agenda.  The $11 million will buy "computers, associated hardware and services." 

Wonder what this $11,798,868 million will buy?  How many computers? What brand? What associated hardware? What services? What is meant by computers?  Promethean Boards? Chrome Books? What services?
 
Take a guess. The BOE has no idea, why should they care? 

We've seen this vague language many times before and the results of what Larry Bowers purchases are always a surprise! 

Is this how the Montgomery County Board of Education oversees the spending of $11 million dollars? 

http://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/9WMMW2545CDB/$file/Cont%20Apprv%20Bid%20UB12-B-19%20Computers%20Ext.pdf