MCPS has a $40 million deficit in its Employee Benefit Plan (EBP)

[Anonymous]

Today in the fiscal management meeting, they went into some pretty alarming details about where MCPS stands fiscally:

Apparently, the Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) fund balance has a $40 million deficit. This deficit is directly related to the spending freeze that's currently in place and why MCPS is looking to charge for summer school and transportation going forward.

[Anonymous]

Can you elaborate on the transportation charge? Is this for all bus routes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you elaborate on the transportation charge? Is this for all bus routes?

I'm re-listening again to see if they clarify. But I think this is more for field trips, extracurriculars, etc.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised that given we have so many teachers on this forum and that MCPS has implemented a spending freeze because of this deficit, that more teachers aren't concerned by this news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Today in the fiscal management meeting, they went into some pretty alarming details about where MCPS stands fiscally:

Apparently, the Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) fund balance has a $40 million deficit. This deficit is directly related to the spending freeze that's currently in place and why MCPS is looking to charge for summer school and transportation going forward.

Wonderful. Another reason to get rid of Dr. McKnight. She is a 360 degree disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today in the fiscal management meeting, they went into some pretty alarming details about where MCPS stands fiscally:

Apparently, the Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) fund balance has a $40 million deficit. This deficit is directly related to the spending freeze that's currently in place and why MCPS is looking to charge for summer school and transportation going forward.

Wonderful. Another reason to get rid of Dr. McKnight. She is a 360 degree disaster.

How exactly is this her fault? Not to mention the finance team has been bringing awareness about the potential flags for awhile(such as higher healthcare cost and more people acquiring them likely from things that got put off during the pandemic. Also they were very vocal about the fact the major cuts were going to be needed for FY2024 given that we’re forced to deplete the standing fund balance, ESSR funds were going a way, and inflation, while lower still had prices overall higher.

And now upon seeing the latest project they input expenditure freezes. What exactly do you expect them to do?

I mean I guess last year they could have cut another 70-100M from the budget, but not sure anyone would have been happy about that either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today in the fiscal management meeting, they went into some pretty alarming details about where MCPS stands fiscally:

Apparently, the Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) fund balance has a $40 million deficit. This deficit is directly related to the spending freeze that's currently in place and why MCPS is looking to charge for summer school and transportation going forward.

Wonderful. Another reason to get rid of Dr. McKnight. She is a 360 degree disaster.

How exactly is this her fault? Not to mention the finance team has been bringing awareness about the potential flags for awhile(such as higher healthcare cost and more people acquiring them likely from things that got put off during the pandemic. Also they were very vocal about the fact the major cuts were going to be needed for FY2024 given that we’re forced to deplete the standing fund balance, ESSR funds were going a way, and inflation, while lower still had prices overall higher.

And now upon seeing the latest project they input expenditure freezes. What exactly do you expect them to do?

I mean I guess last year they could have cut another 70-100M from the budget, but not sure anyone would have been happy about that either.

I think Monifa didn't help by obligating MCPS to pay in full for all AP/IB exams for starters. I'm sure that had a significant effect on expenditures for the county.

[Anonymous]

I hope McKnight gets fired but she is not the cause of this particular issue which is about inflation and increased health care claims including for Ozempic and Wegovy which are ver expensive and very popular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised that given we have so many teachers on this forum and that MCPS has implemented a spending freeze because of this deficit, that more teachers aren't concerned by this news.

Someone needs to do a serious line by line audit of both MCPS and the county and cut out all the wasteful spending. They get plenty of money and need to manage it better. Enough is enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope McKnight gets fired but she is not the cause of this particular issue which is about inflation and increased health care claims including for Ozempic and Wegovy which are ver expensive and very popular.

Are fat teachers and principals using Ozempic/WeGovy enough to create a $40 million deficit? Seems like scapegoating, given the size of the deficit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today in the fiscal management meeting, they went into some pretty alarming details about where MCPS stands fiscally:

Apparently, the Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) fund balance has a $40 million deficit. This deficit is directly related to the spending freeze that's currently in place and why MCPS is looking to charge for summer school and transportation going forward.

Wonderful. Another reason to get rid of Dr. McKnight. She is a 360 degree disaster.

How exactly is this her fault? Not to mention the finance team has been bringing awareness about the potential flags for awhile(such as higher healthcare cost and more people acquiring them likely from things that got put off during the pandemic. Also they were very vocal about the fact the major cuts were going to be needed for FY2024 given that we’re forced to deplete the standing fund balance, ESSR funds were going a way, and inflation, while lower still had prices overall higher.

And now upon seeing the latest project they input expenditure freezes. What exactly do you expect them to do?

I mean I guess last year they could have cut another 70-100M from the budget, but not sure anyone would have been happy about that either.

I think Monifa didn't help by obligating MCPS to pay in full for all AP/IB exams for starters. I'm sure that had a significant effect on expenditures for the county.

The school should pay for those exams and other things. They should not be giving away money to non-profits, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today in the fiscal management meeting, they went into some pretty alarming details about where MCPS stands fiscally:

Apparently, the Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) fund balance has a $40 million deficit. This deficit is directly related to the spending freeze that's currently in place and why MCPS is looking to charge for summer school and transportation going forward.

Wonderful. Another reason to get rid of Dr. McKnight. She is a 360 degree disaster.

How exactly is this her fault? Not to mention the finance team has been bringing awareness about the potential flags for awhile(such as higher healthcare cost and more people acquiring them likely from things that got put off during the pandemic. Also they were very vocal about the fact the major cuts were going to be needed for FY2024 given that we’re forced to deplete the standing fund balance, ESSR funds were going a way, and inflation, while lower still had prices overall higher.

And now upon seeing the latest project they input expenditure freezes. What exactly do you expect them to do?

I mean I guess last year they could have cut another 70-100M from the budget, but not sure anyone would have been happy about that either.

I wouldn't let McKnight and MCPS off the hook that easily. Lynn Harris rightly asked Reilly why MCPS wasn't doing a better job of tracking this, and Reilly's answer was shaky and two-fold.

1. That they were caught off guard by how steep the inflation impacted them (which is just...I don't know how that happened since inflation has been a thing for at least two years now)

2. That cuts he would have liked to implement weren't palatable since it would have meant cutting student-facing services or initiatives (this points to MCPS finance not being able to push back against McKnight. The AP/IB exam thing is an example of this)

3. The Ozempic/WeGovy thing and the use of those drugs added to the increase in claims costs. (He didn't break down how much he attributed that specifically to though. So if Ozempic/WeGovy is only responsible for $1 million out of the $40 million hole they're in, that would be good to know.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope McKnight gets fired but she is not the cause of this particular issue which is about inflation and increased health care claims including for Ozempic and Wegovy which are ver expensive and very popular.

Are fat teachers and principals using Ozempic/WeGovy enough to create a $40 million deficit? Seems like scapegoating, given the size of the deficit.

Honey it's not just teachers and principals using these drugs.

And no, he didn't explain how much these drugs contribute to increased costs.

[Anonymous]

Brian Hull is pointing the finger at McKnight by continuously pointing out "competing interests." She does not get off scott-free in this mess. It's her job to evaluate the competing interests and do what is best for the system, which includes students and staff. Not her political persona.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope McKnight gets fired but she is not the cause of this particular issue which is about inflation and increased health care claims including for Ozempic and Wegovy which are ver expensive and very popular.

Are fat teachers and principals using Ozempic/WeGovy enough to create a $40 million deficit? Seems like scapegoating, given the size of the deficit.

I hope the board asks to see the financial statements on this particular claim for the budget shortfall - LOL. Would the school district prefer to pay for the diabetic complications requiring kidney transplants and cardiovascular surgery?