In 2008, Superintendent Weast reported $6,607,000 in MCPS Textbook and Instructional Supplies funds surplus.
At the Monday, July 27, 2009, Board of Education meeting Superintendent Weast reported a $4,651,000 surplus in the Textbooks and Instructional Supplies fund for Montgomery County Public Schools.
$4,651,000 is about $33 per child that has been declared surplus. Surplus means that the funding was allocated to Textbooks and Instructional Supplies in the budget, but the funds were not spent on your child's textbook and instructional needs. For a classroom of 25 students that would work out to $825. Rumor has it that teachers only get around $200 per classroom to spend on instructional supplies. Can anyone verify that number? If so, please post in the comment section below.
While Superintendent Weast has stated that he will not provide all MCPS students with their constitutional right to a free public education, the reality is that he hasn't been spending all of the funding that is allotted in the MCPS budget for textbooks and instructional supplies.
Showing posts with label supply list. Show all posts
Showing posts with label supply list. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Live - from the MCPS BOE Policy Committee . . .
. . . a new policy on curricular fees.
Yes, curricular fees will make a return appearance in Montgomery County Public Schools for the 2009-2010 school year.
See for yourself the discussion from the July 21, 2009 BOE Policy Committee meeting.
According to Lori Christina Webb, Dr. Lacey's most capable assistant and policy guru, MCPS decided that the fees are still legal - and has trained everyone, including principals, fiscal assistants, administrative secretaries, business managers, and resource teachers, concerning the new definitions of curricular fees. MCPS has also drafted a new website where parents can get answers in English and five different languages concerning the fees that they may be charged.
Tons of training - but what exactly are the fees and when will we be informed? Silly parents, the lists aren't even drawn up yet. The lists were due to the Community Superintendents on July 22, and Lori Christina Webb expects that the process may take several weeks before the lists are finalized.
So what exactly did the training cover? The definition of what is a curricular fee?
Here is my training. One word. Illegal.
That's right, it doesn't matter what MCPS says, in Montgomery County we are entitled to a free public education. Its in the state Constitution, Article VIII. The Office of the Maryland Attorney General says so too.
So - why does the MCPS Board of Education continue to insist on charging for what the taxpayers of the state have already funded? More training isn't going to solve the problem. Neither will fancy letters in multiple languages.
To this writer, the school system - BOE, MCPS, Lori Christina Webb, and Frieda Lacey, should be concentrating on using public funds for the intended purpose - purchasing the materials our children need to ensure an appropriate education, instead of training staff how to violate the law.
Illegal is still illegal.
MCPS needs to take a page already developed by its grading and reporting gurus - when a student doesn't attain a concept, the mantra is to reteach and reassess. How many times do we need to reinforce that the school system cannot charge curricular fees?
Parents and students - don't be fooled this school year. If your school sends home a note requesting a fee that you believe is illegal, send a description of the violation to the Attorney General of Maryland at oag@oag.state.md.us or by postal mail to Office of the Attorney General, 200 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD 21209.
Yes, curricular fees will make a return appearance in Montgomery County Public Schools for the 2009-2010 school year.
See for yourself the discussion from the July 21, 2009 BOE Policy Committee meeting.
According to Lori Christina Webb, Dr. Lacey's most capable assistant and policy guru, MCPS decided that the fees are still legal - and has trained everyone, including principals, fiscal assistants, administrative secretaries, business managers, and resource teachers, concerning the new definitions of curricular fees. MCPS has also drafted a new website where parents can get answers in English and five different languages concerning the fees that they may be charged.
Tons of training - but what exactly are the fees and when will we be informed? Silly parents, the lists aren't even drawn up yet. The lists were due to the Community Superintendents on July 22, and Lori Christina Webb expects that the process may take several weeks before the lists are finalized.
So what exactly did the training cover? The definition of what is a curricular fee?
Here is my training. One word. Illegal.
That's right, it doesn't matter what MCPS says, in Montgomery County we are entitled to a free public education. Its in the state Constitution, Article VIII. The Office of the Maryland Attorney General says so too.
So - why does the MCPS Board of Education continue to insist on charging for what the taxpayers of the state have already funded? More training isn't going to solve the problem. Neither will fancy letters in multiple languages.
To this writer, the school system - BOE, MCPS, Lori Christina Webb, and Frieda Lacey, should be concentrating on using public funds for the intended purpose - purchasing the materials our children need to ensure an appropriate education, instead of training staff how to violate the law.
Illegal is still illegal.
MCPS needs to take a page already developed by its grading and reporting gurus - when a student doesn't attain a concept, the mantra is to reteach and reassess. How many times do we need to reinforce that the school system cannot charge curricular fees?
Parents and students - don't be fooled this school year. If your school sends home a note requesting a fee that you believe is illegal, send a description of the violation to the Attorney General of Maryland at oag@oag.state.md.us or by postal mail to Office of the Attorney General, 200 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD 21209.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Word of the Day - Incentive
Today's word of the day is brought to you from the new MCPS Curricular Fees Guideline.
Yes, Virginia, public schools are still free under the Maryland Constitution and state law, although you would never know it from reading the new MCPS pages on school fees. Tons of verbage - how is any parent /guardian going to understand? MCPS thinks that simply translating the parent letter from English into Chinese, Vietnamese, French, Korean, and Spanish will be sufficient.
Aside from the still not in compliance nature of the policy and the illusive waiver provisions, several terms seems to be left off of the MCPS page on definitions. Lets start with my favorite omission.
INCENTIVE
According to MCPS, secondary school parents can still be charged for incentives.
From the secondary schools Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes, Virginia, public schools are still free under the Maryland Constitution and state law, although you would never know it from reading the new MCPS pages on school fees. Tons of verbage - how is any parent /guardian going to understand? MCPS thinks that simply translating the parent letter from English into Chinese, Vietnamese, French, Korean, and Spanish will be sufficient.
Aside from the still not in compliance nature of the policy and the illusive waiver provisions, several terms seems to be left off of the MCPS page on definitions. Lets start with my favorite omission.
INCENTIVE
According to MCPS, secondary school parents can still be charged for incentives.
From the secondary schools Frequently Asked Questions:
5. Can an activity fee be charged for incentives or school activities?
Response: Yes. Each principal may determine, in collaboration with the school and parent leadership committees, if noncourse-related fees for items such as incentives and school activities will be charged to students. The principal will communicate information about such fees and their purpose to all parents.
But what is an incentive? Here is the definition from MSN Encarta Dictionary. Now, tell me, isn't it the responsibility of schools, along with the parents and the community, to motivate our students? If so, why is this now something subject to an additional constituent or user fee?
After all, if its public school and its part of the curriculum, shouldn't it be free?
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Thursday, May 7, 2009
If it costs money, my child is "sick" (Student socio-economic status)
How illegal curricular fees keep kids from obtaining their constitutional right to a free public education.
Why has the MCPS Board of Education been silent on the charging of illegal curricular fees in MCPS? When will the Board stand up for all children?
Why has the MCPS Board of Education been silent on the charging of illegal curricular fees in MCPS? When will the Board stand up for all children?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Fees waived if you know who to ask
You might remember my article from about five weeks ago, where I described how I stumbled upon a way to get illegal curricular fees removed my daughter's account so that she will be able to attend graduation and participate in other school activities.
If you don't have time to read (or reread) the article now, the short story is that I received a demand letter for a curricular fee for one of daughter's classes and was eventually able to have the fee rescinded with help from Maryland State Delegate Saqib Ali. The fee was rescinded because, according to Superintendent Jerry Weast, the demand letter that I received was a "mistake".
A question that has never been answered is: Does the decision to rescind the curricular fee apply just to my child -- presumably because of Delegate Ali's involvement -- or to all MCPS students? To get an answer, I repeatedly called and emailed MCPS Director of School Performance Mr. Stephen Bedford (since he is handling the fees issues), but Mr. Bedford refused to answer my question.
Even after repeated calls, Mr. Bedford continued to be nonresponsive, so I contacted my elected BOE representative, Ms. Nancy Navarro. Here is my email to Ms. Navarro. (Again, I recommend that you read my previous article about the situation for background information.)
Initially, Ms. Navarro did not respond to the email message shown above. I wasn't too surprised, though, since she did not respond to any of the other three emails that I sent her during the past two years, even though I'm her constituent. (In comparison, my county councilmember, Mike Knapp, has been responsive and effective when I have contacted him. Now I'm not saying that Mr. Knapp has supported all of my positions, but he has always replied and provided an explanation for whatever action he decided to take.)
After waiting about three weeks for Ms. Navarro to respond to my email, I left her a voicemail message. About a week later, Ms. Navarro finally returned my call and I reiterated my request to get an answer to my question about the fee policy. Ms. Navarro told me that she would work to get an answer, but as of now -- five weeks after asking for her assistance -- I still don't have an answer from Ms. Navarro or from anyone in MCPS.
At this point, I doubt that I'll get an answer from Mr. Bedford or Ms. Navarro before the end of the school year. If things change, I'll certainly give an update.
If you don't have time to read (or reread) the article now, the short story is that I received a demand letter for a curricular fee for one of daughter's classes and was eventually able to have the fee rescinded with help from Maryland State Delegate Saqib Ali. The fee was rescinded because, according to Superintendent Jerry Weast, the demand letter that I received was a "mistake".
A question that has never been answered is: Does the decision to rescind the curricular fee apply just to my child -- presumably because of Delegate Ali's involvement -- or to all MCPS students? To get an answer, I repeatedly called and emailed MCPS Director of School Performance Mr. Stephen Bedford (since he is handling the fees issues), but Mr. Bedford refused to answer my question.
Even after repeated calls, Mr. Bedford continued to be nonresponsive, so I contacted my elected BOE representative, Ms. Nancy Navarro. Here is my email to Ms. Navarro. (Again, I recommend that you read my previous article about the situation for background information.)
Initially, Ms. Navarro did not respond to the email message shown above. I wasn't too surprised, though, since she did not respond to any of the other three emails that I sent her during the past two years, even though I'm her constituent. (In comparison, my county councilmember, Mike Knapp, has been responsive and effective when I have contacted him. Now I'm not saying that Mr. Knapp has supported all of my positions, but he has always replied and provided an explanation for whatever action he decided to take.)
After waiting about three weeks for Ms. Navarro to respond to my email, I left her a voicemail message. About a week later, Ms. Navarro finally returned my call and I reiterated my request to get an answer to my question about the fee policy. Ms. Navarro told me that she would work to get an answer, but as of now -- five weeks after asking for her assistance -- I still don't have an answer from Ms. Navarro or from anyone in MCPS.
At this point, I doubt that I'll get an answer from Mr. Bedford or Ms. Navarro before the end of the school year. If things change, I'll certainly give an update.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Howard Co. to provide free public education
Schools to eliminate activity fees
Parents had complained of wildly varying charges
Columbia Flyer By Jennifer Broadwater Posted 3/12/09
Howard County school officials have decided to eliminate “activity fees” charged to parents. The fees, used to pay for materials such as craft supplies, calculators, magazine subscriptions and spelling workbooks, previously varied wildly from school to school and had prompted complaints from parents. In addition to eliminating the fees, officials have drawn up school supply “menus” in order to make supply lists at different schools more consistent...
“We wanted to be sure there was some consistency, and more importantly, we wanted to be sure we weren’t asking for things the school system should be supplying,” Cousin said in October. “Free and public education is what the state says we should be supplying and that’s what we’ll do.”
continues here
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How did Howard County Public Schools look at the exact same laws and the exact same letter from the Maryland Attorney General's office and come up with different conclusions from Superintendent Weast?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
If it is curriculum related a school system cannot charge a fee
These words come from the Maryland Attorney General's office in response to questions about hundreds of course fees charged students who attend Montgomery County Public Schools.
If it is curriculum related a school system cannot charge a fee.
Yet, we see Superintendent Weast continuing to put out contradictory information to MCPS staff via the February 17th edition of the MCPS publication "The Bulletin". In this edition of the MCPS Bulletin, MCPS staff are told:
According to the Maryland Attorney General, there are no "allowable course-related fees". Why are MCPS staff being given bad information?
On August 18, 2008, Superintendent Weast was sent a letter (see below) from the Maryland Attorney General's office. The letter outlined current Maryland law with regard to curricular fees and quoted the opinion of the Attorney General that, "we are safe in saying that anything directly related to a school's curriculum must be available to all without charge."
Why are MCPS students being denied their Maryland Constitutional right to a free public education under Superintendent Weast's leadership? Why has the Board of Education been silent on this fundamental issue of equal access to education for all?
For a complete overview of the Curricular Fees issue in Montgomery County Public Schools, please see the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland's Guide to Fees, including MCPS' own attorney's explanation of the difference between Curricular Fees and Extra-Curricular Fees in Maryland. MCPS' own attorney knows that Extra-Curricular fees can be charged under Maryland law, and Curricular Fees can not be charged.
KameenOAGLetter
If it is curriculum related a school system cannot charge a fee.
Yet, we see Superintendent Weast continuing to put out contradictory information to MCPS staff via the February 17th edition of the MCPS publication "The Bulletin". In this edition of the MCPS Bulletin, MCPS staff are told:
Generally, allowable course-related fees are limited to:
- Materials that become a product that belongs to the student, such as a student art project.
- Personal items that become the student’s property, such as auto technology uniforms.
- Food consumed by the student as part of a course.
According to the Maryland Attorney General, there are no "allowable course-related fees". Why are MCPS staff being given bad information?
On August 18, 2008, Superintendent Weast was sent a letter (see below) from the Maryland Attorney General's office. The letter outlined current Maryland law with regard to curricular fees and quoted the opinion of the Attorney General that, "we are safe in saying that anything directly related to a school's curriculum must be available to all without charge."
Why are MCPS students being denied their Maryland Constitutional right to a free public education under Superintendent Weast's leadership? Why has the Board of Education been silent on this fundamental issue of equal access to education for all?
For a complete overview of the Curricular Fees issue in Montgomery County Public Schools, please see the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland's Guide to Fees, including MCPS' own attorney's explanation of the difference between Curricular Fees and Extra-Curricular Fees in Maryland. MCPS' own attorney knows that Extra-Curricular fees can be charged under Maryland law, and Curricular Fees can not be charged.
KameenOAGLetter
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Press Release: Returning Free Public Schools to Montgomery County
Press Release
Contact:
Janis Sartucci
For Immediate Release
Returning Free Public Schools to Montgomery County
The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County is pleased that today Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is acknowledging the outrageous burden placed upon families by the charging of curricular fees for many classes in our public schools. In today's announcement, MCPS recognizes that these fees were applied inconsistently and that local public schools were profiting from charges for required instructional materials. Furthermore, these assessments involved items integral to the curriculum and were clearly prohibited by the Maryland State Constitution's guarantee of a system of "Free Public Schools".
The impact of today's announcement by the MCPS Superintendent, Jerry Weast, will have state-wide implications. MCPS represents the largest and most diverse school system in the state and other Maryland
The Parents' Coalition is pleased with what appears to be a 70% reduction in curricular fees. At the same time, we plan to review the Superintendent's memorandum and the remaining fee list. We will seek additional legal advice concerning the application of the revised charges consistent with the State Constitution, as necessary. Additionally, we will continue to advocate for inclusion of all school fees within the operating budget of our school system in order for these funds to be covered under existing legislative oversight requirements.
The Parents' Coalition wishes to thank its hundreds of members, and many local and statewide supporters for their long standing effort to end onerous and illegal school fees in Montgomery County Public Schools.
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