$2 Million Slush Fund with Modernization

File this under "who knew that a $2 million slush fund comes with a school modernization?"  How does this work out for Kennedy High School where the floor just dropped in one part of the building? Will Kennedy HS "win" the emergency repair slush fund or must they wait for a modernization?  What about the rotting Old Blair auditorium at Silver Spring International Middle School? Where's the 11 year rotting auditorium slush fund?


Imagine being able to pour an extra $2 million into a school.  A little "gift" from the Board of Education. 


This article also has interesting information on how local schools are funded, $92.70 per student for instructional materials and $35.03 per student for textbooks.  The article says that amount is the same all over the county. What happened to Jerry Weast's red/green zone funding?


The Pitch Online:  What the School’s Budget Means to WJ

...Normally, at the beginning of each school year, the county allocates $92.70 per student for instructional materials, and $35.03 per student for textbooks. The amounts allocated per student are constant within the county, but the amount of money schools receive varies depending on the size of each school’s student body...

...While it may seem that some schools within the county receive more money than others, there are numerous factors that separate the distribution of funds between schools. Due to the lengthy construction, the county granted WJ a Furniture & Equipment account which is comprised of a $2 million budget and is used for materials, furniture, equipment and anything the administration deems a necessary without drawing from instructional funds.
“It comes from the county as a part of the capital budget made years ago when they first started working on the school,” said Cosgrove. “After construction ends we have a year-and-a-half to spend it.”
Only schools undergoing large modernizations are granted this account. WJ uses the money on anything from desks to pencil sharpeners, including the Promethean boards. While the county distributes a few boards per school, the F&E account has allowed WJ to buy enough Promethean boards for each classroom.
“We thought it would be better if every teacher had one. Because teachers work as teams, teachers without boards wouldn’t be able to team plan,” said Cosgrove.
The F & E account is still in use and will be available until the funds run out, giving WJ the leisure of purchasing necessary equipment.
“We were fortunate that we could use our F & E money to give everybody a Promethean board,” said Cosgrove.

MCPS 2nd in Per Pupil Spending in Maryland

Examining more data from the State Dept of Education website and saw some remarkable new information. All data is taken via downloads from www.mdreportcard.org


On the most recent reporting MCPS no longer spends the most per pupil on education. That title is now held by little Worchester County spending $15,498 per pupil. MCPS spends the second most, $800 more then Howard County, and over $3,000 more per pupil than the higher performing Frederick and Carroll County schools.

County Name	Expenditures Per Pupil $
Worcester	15498
Montgomery	14969
Kent	14490
Baltimore City	14302
Somerset	14240
Howard	14166
Allegany	13251
Prince George's	13246
Dorchester	12564
Baltimore County	12236
Anne Arundel	12178
Garrett	12093
Wicomico	12054
Calvert	11789
Charles	11786
Frederick	11727
Carroll	11671
Harford	11542
Cecil	11395
Saint Mary's	11387
Washington	11276
Queen Anne's	11273
Talbot	11160
Caroline	11154
All MD Public Schools	13019

Bob Astrove

MSA

For all we spend on schools in Montgomery County what are we getting?

We spend the most, but according to the Maryland State Assessment (MSA) test results we are currently 12th in Math and 7th in reading among the 24 school systems in Maryland.

This is what the current Superintendent and School Board have delivered.

Note that while we have moved up 3 places in Reading over the past 4 years, we have fallen three places in Math. Fallen to the middle of the pack - 12th of 24.

At the same time MCPS spends the most per pupil. 10% more than Howard County and 28% more than Frederick County. In the most extreme comparison, MCPS spends 37% more per student then Queen Anne's County which is arguably the highest performing school district in the state.

All data used is from the Maryland State Department of Education web site. Cost data is the most recent available, FY2008. MSA scores are from 2006 and 2010. MSA's are given to 3rd through 8th graders each spring.

Fairfax, doing more with less? Comparing MCPS to regional school systems.

The following information was originally posted to the Parents' Coalition blog on December 10, 2009.


This blog post is being re-posted as this subject of comparing MCPS to FCPS is in the news with the January 26, 2010, release of Montgomery County's Office of Legislative Oversight Report: Comparative Data on Montgomery County and Fairfax County.


The majority of "Section VIII Education" of the OLA report is based on the Washington Area Boards of Education (WABE) annual document shown below. However, the WABE document includes more information comparing Montgomery and Fairfax school systems than was included in the OLO Report.


For your information, the WABE report is provided once again.

December 10, 2009

The Washington Area Boards of Education has released their annual guide comparing the public school systems in the Washington, D.C. region. 

In this guide you can find out that:

• In FY09 MCPS had 139,276 students and Fairfax County Public Schools had 169,538 students (Page 14).
• In MCPS there are 23,421 students listed for Special Education Membership compared to 43,680 for Fairfax County Public Schools (Page 20).
• In MCPS the Cost per Pupil for FY 09 was $15,252 and for Fairfax it was $13,340 (Page 30).
• Montgomery County is the only county of the 9 shown where Cost per Pupil rose from FY09 to FY10 (Page 31).
• For FY10 Fairfax has 19 positions on its Leadership team, MCPS has 21(Pages 33-34).
• For FY 10 Fairfax has 160 positions for Management, MCPS has 289.7 (Pages 33-34).
• For FY 10 Fairfax has 135.5 Educational Specialists, MCPS has 196 (Pages 33-34).

Just comparing MCPS to Fairfax it appears that with more students, a higher percentage of ESOL students, and a larger Special Education population, Fairfax County Public Schools has less administration, higher SATs and smaller class sizes.

Take a look at the report for yourself, there is a lot more data to compare. 

Washington Area Boards of Education - FY 2010 WABE Guide