Protest Hogan's diversion of public funds from public schools into private schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the PPs who are opposed to this why don't you just take more of your money/time and funnel it into charities that help the under privilege...Each dollar you spend one something else is money that you are taking away from more deserving people.

I don't understand. Is this a valid summary?

PPs: We oppose giving public money to wealthy people to send their children to private schools.
You: Why aren't you giving more money to charity?

If it is a valid summary, in what way does your post respond to the PP's statements?

We pay more than our fair share of taxes...Your side is saying by using money for private school we are harming the underprivileged...so I'm saying use your own money if you feel that strongly... A lot of middle / upper middle class kids are making big sacrifices to send their children to private school and giving a textbook allowance for example so that our kids don't have to pay for the same textbooks used as the public school kids eg shouldn't be seen as taking away from the public school.

Says who?

It is your prerogative, and your choice, to make big sacrifices to send your children to private school.

+1 It's not my role as a taxpayer to subsidize your choice to send your child to private school. If you don't like what you're paying, send your kids to public school. Public schools have to accept everyone.

+1 90% of Americans send their kids to public school. We should not be subsidizing the few who complain of their sacrifices as they choose to spend 20K$/per year on average to send their kids to school when a public alternative is readily available.

If the subsidy is a textbook and the textbook would be used in a public school...what's the difference?

The difference is that a free textbook is available for your child at his local school. You chose to send your school to private school, which may use different textbooks, or not use textbooks at all. That's your choice. We taxpayers are not paying for your special choices.

You already do. You already pay for HCG, Immersion, Magnet, and IB. They are all special choices that a small group of kids get. Their parents get them for free since they spend the same amount of taxes as you and still eat up another spot. Private school families pay their taxes to the school district and do not send anyone to the district their taxes are going to?

Immersion is available to anyone who chooses to apply and wins a randomly selected lottery spot. HCG, Magnet, and IB are available to anyone is qualified according to a set of standard criteria. It may be that your child may not be qualified according to the criteria that are set, but the spots are available for anyone who is qualified. That's not the same as private schools who can cherry pick students according to a range of characteristics (religious, net worth of parents, athletic ability etc.) Private schools can also refuse spots to people who have disabilities "they are not equipped to handle." Public schools can not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Also the county does dumb things like build Rocky Hill MS and then 7-8 years later rebuilds and it and turns it into a HS and then rebuilds Rocky Hill HS in another location...total waste of tax payer money.

Agree. They have done this in our district too. No one thinks long term. So many other counties and schools add an entire level that is built out but not finished. So much cheaper for growing districts in the long run. Not MCPS. They have to continue to build massive additions eating up more land and fields from the school.

They waste so much money.

Let's look at the timeline.

1994 - Clarksburg master plan adopted
1995 - new Rocky Hill MS opens
2000 - Clarksburg development starts
2004 - new building opens for Rocky Hill MS (capacity 986 students) next door
2006 - new Clarksburg HS built at site of former Rocky Hill MS
2015 - addition built for Clarksburg HS (capacity now 2,025)
2016 - new Hallie Wells MS opens

I'm not seeing the waste or lack of long-term thinking here.

[Anonymous]

NP here. One kid in MCPS, one kid in private. Kid in private is there because MCPS can't provide what my kid needs.

I have no delusions about more money to MCPS equating to smaller class size. All it does is inflate the union bureaucrats pockets. They merely pretend to plea for the kids, but couldn't give a rats ass whether they actually learn.

Look at how the increased MCPS property taxes from last year worked out. My MCPS kid's school got NO additional teacher/staff. They had to fight to get something. What did they get? One AIDE. Not even a teacher. How's that money working out for you? Oh yeah, I forgot, those union bureaucrats are partying and buttering up the MCPS BoEd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. One kid in MCPS, one kid in private. Kid in private is there because MCPS can't provide what my kid needs.

I have no delusions about more money to MCPS equating to smaller class size. All it does is inflate the union bureaucrats pockets. They merely pretend to plea for the kids, but couldn't give a rats ass whether they actually learn.

Look at how the increased MCPS property taxes from last year worked out. My MCPS kid's school got NO additional teacher/staff. They had to fight to get something. What did they get? One AIDE. Not even a teacher. How's that money working out for you? Oh yeah, I forgot, those union bureaucrats are partying and buttering up the MCPS BoEd.

The increase in the property tax was wasted money because, as far as you know, your child's school got no additional teachers (but did get an aide). Well, that's one way to look at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Also the county does dumb things like build Rocky Hill MS and then 7-8 years later rebuilds and it and turns it into a HS and then rebuilds Rocky Hill HS in another location...total waste of tax payer money.

Agree. They have done this in our district too. No one thinks long term. So many other counties and schools add an entire level that is built out but not finished. So much cheaper for growing districts in the long run. Not MCPS. They have to continue to build massive additions eating up more land and fields from the school.

They waste so much money.

Let's look at the timeline.

1994 - Clarksburg master plan adopted
1995 - new Rocky Hill MS opens
2000 - Clarksburg development starts
2004 - new building opens for Rocky Hill MS (capacity 986 students) next door
2006 - new Clarksburg HS built at site of former Rocky Hill MS
2015 - addition built for Clarksburg HS (capacity now 2,025)
2016 - new Hallie Wells MS opens

I'm not seeing the waste or lack of long-term thinking here.

Your joking...building a school and tearing it down within 10 years isn't a waste of money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Also the county does dumb things like build Rocky Hill MS and then 7-8 years later rebuilds and it and turns it into a HS and then rebuilds Rocky Hill HS in another location...total waste of tax payer money.

Agree. They have done this in our district too. No one thinks long term. So many other counties and schools add an entire level that is built out but not finished. So much cheaper for growing districts in the long run. Not MCPS. They have to continue to build massive additions eating up more land and fields from the school.

They waste so much money.

Let's look at the timeline.

1994 - Clarksburg master plan adopted
1995 - new Rocky Hill MS opens
2000 - Clarksburg development starts
2004 - new building opens for Rocky Hill MS (capacity 986 students) next door
2006 - new Clarksburg HS built at site of former Rocky Hill MS
2015 - addition built for Clarksburg HS (capacity now 2,025)
2016 - new Hallie Wells MS opens

I'm not seeing the waste or lack of long-term thinking here.

Your joking...building a school and tearing it down within 10 years isn't a waste of money?

What would you have done instead, in the early 1990s, knowing only what people in the early 1990s knew about the future?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Also the county does dumb things like build Rocky Hill MS and then 7-8 years later rebuilds and it and turns it into a HS and then rebuilds Rocky Hill HS in another location...total waste of tax payer money.

Agree. They have done this in our district too. No one thinks long term. So many other counties and schools add an entire level that is built out but not finished. So much cheaper for growing districts in the long run. Not MCPS. They have to continue to build massive additions eating up more land and fields from the school.

They waste so much money.

Let's look at the timeline.

1994 - Clarksburg master plan adopted
1995 - new Rocky Hill MS opens
2000 - Clarksburg development starts
2004 - new building opens for Rocky Hill MS (capacity 986 students) next door
2006 - new Clarksburg HS built at site of former Rocky Hill MS
2015 - addition built for Clarksburg HS (capacity now 2,025)
2016 - new Hallie Wells MS opens

I'm not seeing the waste or lack of long-term thinking here.

Your joking...building a school and tearing it down within 10 years isn't a waste of money?

What would you have done instead, in the early 1990s, knowing only what people in the early 1990s knew about the future?

They built in 2004 by then they definitely knew what was going to happen. They should have built Clarksburg on the new site or planned for the expansion...It was such a waste.

[Anonymous]

1. If people want to send their kids to private school, that's fine...but taxpayers shouldn't subsidize it.

2. If low-income communities need better schools, then taxpayer dollars should be used to improve failing public schools...not for a select few to go to a private school.

It's not surprising that conservatives like vouchers/school choice: it shifts their responsibility from having to actually address the issues at failing schools...and those issues are myriad and complex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Also the county does dumb things like build Rocky Hill MS and then 7-8 years later rebuilds and it and turns it into a HS and then rebuilds Rocky Hill HS in another location...total waste of tax payer money.

Agree. They have done this in our district too. No one thinks long term. So many other counties and schools add an entire level that is built out but not finished. So much cheaper for growing districts in the long run. Not MCPS. They have to continue to build massive additions eating up more land and fields from the school.

They waste so much money.

Let's look at the timeline.

1994 - Clarksburg master plan adopted
1995 - new Rocky Hill MS opens
2000 - Clarksburg development starts
2004 - new building opens for Rocky Hill MS (capacity 986 students) next door
2006 - new Clarksburg HS built at site of former Rocky Hill MS
2015 - addition built for Clarksburg HS (capacity now 2,025)
2016 - new Hallie Wells MS opens

I'm not seeing the waste or lack of long-term thinking here.

Your joking...building a school and tearing it down within 10 years isn't a waste of money?

What would you have done instead, in the early 1990s, knowing only what people in the early 1990s knew about the future?

They built in 2004 by then they definitely knew what was going to happen. They should have built Clarksburg on the new site or planned for the expansion...It was such a waste.

You keep saying, "It was such a waste," without saying what was wasted, or how much.

The new site (where Rocky Hill MS is now) is 23 acres. The current Clarksburg HS site is 63 acres. You seem to have followed school development in Clarksburg closely -- what reasons did MCPS give in the early 2000s, when the decisions were being made, for moving Rocky Hill MS and putting Clarksburg HS in its place?

[Anonymous]

Person A: Why are you giving scare public resources to subsidize a program so parents can send their kids to private schools, when 80% of those parents were sending their kids anyway without the subsidy?
Person B: I hate the statues in front of the school. Therefore, all my taxes on public school are wasted. So give my tax dollars to private schools instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. If people want to send their kids to private school, that's fine...but taxpayers shouldn't subsidize it.

2. If low-income communities need better schools, then taxpayer dollars should be used to improve failing public schools...not for a select few to go to a private school.

It's not surprising that conservatives like vouchers/school choice: it shifts their responsibility from having to actually address the issues at failing schools...and those issues are myriad and complex.

No conservative like choice because they believe in markets.

[Anonymous]

Below is the letter to the community written by the MD PTA president. Essentially, Gov. Hogan has approved a system of vouchers for private schools and withheld funds for public schools as a result. I can only speak for MCPS, since my kids go there, but in MCPS many schools are overcrowded, and many buildings need to be expanded, or renovated. There are inequalities that need to be addressed. Helping children achieve their potential means first tackling public education before private/religious education.


"On Behalf of Maryland PTA President Elizabeth Ysla Leight

The time is at hand to contact your local elected officials to ask that they work to keep public funds in the public schools. National PTA and Maryland PTA have historically supported the exclusive use of public taxpayer funds limited to our nation’s public schools. As you know Governor Hogan has already given funding to private and religious institutions and proposes FY 2018 Budget increases for an addition $6.85 million to be diverted from our public schools and to private and religious organizations.

PTA members are needed to take a stand against the siphoning off of public funds from our local schools who are in desperate need of additional needs and services. Many of our school children attend school in deplorably crowded conditions, attend schools without air-conditioning or that leak when it rains.

This is the second consecutive year that Gov. Hogan has decided to withhold school funding despite projected budget surpluses. Last year, he withheld $68 million passed in a bipartisan budget from thirteen counties that saw increased class sizes, eliminated educator positions, and cut programs. Then, he held back $25 million in funding that would have supported the maintenance of aging school facilities and helped counties pay for educator pensions without cutting funding levels for classroom instruction.

We need YOU to support our public schools who are trying to do more for students with less help from the state than ever before. Gov. Hogan’s proposal to create a private school voucher program, a $5 million line-item in the budget was included to send taxpayer dollars to private schools. Advocates of the effort argued that the funding would help students in “struggling” public schools leave for private sector options. In 2016, when Gov. Hogan included $5 million for the BOOST voucher program in his budget, an overwhelming majority of those taxpayer dollars—78%—were then distributed to families whose children already were enrolled in private schools. The truth is, this money would go a lot further to help low-income students if it was spent in our taxpayer-funded public school system to improve dilapidated buildings and support student programs.

When we have $3 million in unmet needs in the public schools, any dollar dedicated to private schools—whether it’s $5 million, $10 million, or one dollar—keeps us from meeting those needs. The failed BOOST voucher program should be eliminated.

We can’t afford to fund two different school systems—public taxpayer dollars should be spent improving our public schools, not subsidizing expensive private schools. If the state of Maryland cannot afford to spend taxpayer dollars on fixing aging school buildings and preventing class size increases, we certainly cannot afford to help subsidize tuition for those who are already enrolled in private schools, and it’s disappointing that the governor is choosing to siphon funding from public schools to help private schools.


Tell your elected officials that Enough is Enough. Support Our Public Schools.

Here is what you can do:

1. Write an Email to your Senator and Delegate asking that they not support expanding additional funds to private and religious schools.
2. March with MSEA and Maryland PTA on Monday, March 13 to Support Our Public Schools. We are gathering at the MSEA HQ parking lot, 140 Main Street, Annapolis, MD at 5:00 pm and marching up the street to the State House for scheduled lobby visits and office drop-bys. You can see details on the march, RSVP at www.protectMDschools.com
3. Write a letter to Governor Hogan expressing your disapproval that he is not funding the public school system and diverting funds to private and religious schools. "

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe in the freedom of school choice.
Why don't you, op?

It's only freedom of choice for some. But, while Trump is busy attempting to weaken the independent media, by all means, he should go ahead and weaken public education. Both are essential to democracy.

Public education is already weak, IMO.

We spend tons of money on education in this country and it gets wasted on stupid shit like Chromebooks in 2nd grade so kids can learn how to message each other, Promethean boards that don't work properly some of the time, additional testing year after year for no good reason.

What are you so afraid of? Try something different.

NP. Agree with everything you said, except the last part. What I am afraid of is the old bait and switch. Divert funds from public schools to private schools, then when public schools are no longer viable, make education a pay to learn system. no money, no education. no public funding of education of any kind. The people promoting "school choice" are those who believe nothing should be free. Their motives are never altruistic and all they care about is creating spaces for businesses to make profit -- it's never about people in need. Don't ever be fooled and don't try to fool those who know this is all driven by profit motive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Below is the letter to the community written by the MD PTA president. Essentially, Gov. Hogan has approved a system of vouchers for private schools and withheld funds for public schools as a result. I can only speak for MCPS, since my kids go there, but in MCPS many schools are overcrowded, and many buildings need to be expanded, or renovated. There are inequalities that need to be addressed. Helping children achieve their potential means first tackling public education before private/religious education.


"On Behalf of Maryland PTA President Elizabeth Ysla Leight

The time is at hand to contact your local elected officials to ask that they work to keep public funds in the public schools. National PTA and Maryland PTA have historically supported the exclusive use of public taxpayer funds limited to our nation’s public schools. As you know Governor Hogan has already given funding to private and religious institutions and proposes FY 2018 Budget increases for an addition $6.85 million to be diverted from our public schools and to private and religious organizations.

PTA members are needed to take a stand against the siphoning off of public funds from our local schools who are in desperate need of additional needs and services. Many of our school children attend school in deplorably crowded conditions, attend schools without air-conditioning or that leak when it rains.

This is the second consecutive year that Gov. Hogan has decided to withhold school funding despite projected budget surpluses. Last year, he withheld $68 million passed in a bipartisan budget from thirteen counties that saw increased class sizes, eliminated educator positions, and cut programs. Then, he held back $25 million in funding that would have supported the maintenance of aging school facilities and helped counties pay for educator pensions without cutting funding levels for classroom instruction.

We need YOU to support our public schools who are trying to do more for students with less help from the state than ever before. Gov. Hogan’s proposal to create a private school voucher program, a $5 million line-item in the budget was included to send taxpayer dollars to private schools. Advocates of the effort argued that the funding would help students in “struggling” public schools leave for private sector options. In 2016, when Gov. Hogan included $5 million for the BOOST voucher program in his budget, an overwhelming majority of those taxpayer dollars—78%—were then distributed to families whose children already were enrolled in private schools. The truth is, this money would go a lot further to help low-income students if it was spent in our taxpayer-funded public school system to improve dilapidated buildings and support student programs.

When we have $3 million in unmet needs in the public schools, any dollar dedicated to private schools—whether it’s $5 million, $10 million, or one dollar—keeps us from meeting those needs. The failed BOOST voucher program should be eliminated.

We can’t afford to fund two different school systems—public taxpayer dollars should be spent improving our public schools, not subsidizing expensive private schools. If the state of Maryland cannot afford to spend taxpayer dollars on fixing aging school buildings and preventing class size increases, we certainly cannot afford to help subsidize tuition for those who are already enrolled in private schools, and it’s disappointing that the governor is choosing to siphon funding from public schools to help private schools.


Tell your elected officials that Enough is Enough. Support Our Public Schools.

Here is what you can do:

1. Write an Email to your Senator and Delegate asking that they not support expanding additional funds to private and religious schools.
2. March with MSEA and Maryland PTA on Monday, March 13 to Support Our Public Schools. We are gathering at the MSEA HQ parking lot, 140 Main Street, Annapolis, MD at 5:00 pm and marching up the street to the State House for scheduled lobby visits and office drop-bys. You can see details on the march, RSVP at www.protectMDschools.com
3. Write a letter to Governor Hogan expressing your disapproval that he is not funding the public school system and diverting funds to private and religious schools. "

Shameful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. If people want to send their kids to private school, that's fine...but taxpayers shouldn't subsidize it.

2. If low-income communities need better schools, then taxpayer dollars should be used to improve failing public schools...not for a select few to go to a private school.

It's not surprising that conservatives like vouchers/school choice: it shifts their responsibility from having to actually address the issues at failing schools...and those issues are myriad and complex.

No conservative like choice because they believe in markets.

Wrong. There's no market when you have public schools and private schools.

Conservatives love kicking the can down the road and abdicating financial responsibility. That's why they love block granting federal programs. Google it...it's a real thing. Everyone should be very worried.