Has the fall off of MCPS been as bad as people say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Takoma Park crowd and County Council has really led the County and MCPS to a bad place. 15 years ago MCPS had the best schools in the DMV. Now, folks are trying wondering what happened and how did it get so bad so quickly. Well, its likely going to get worse, unless the County realizes its mistakes and MCPS will continue the trend of most of the best student leaving for private school which will further erode school performance.

So your understanding is that "school performance" is driven by the best students and if those students leave then the schools become worse?

Doesnt it stand to reason?

If MCPS increases their offerings and preformance at the lower preforming schools, more will attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances that all the positive comments are coming from parents of Ws (including "honorary" BCC), Blair/Poolesville magnets or RMIB? The OP/topic clearly is system-wide, and we know MCPS doesn't provide equitable experiences across clusters.

The vast majority of MoCo parents IRL are happy with MCPS.
Most of the ones posting here are private schools parents, trolls and wannabes.
DCUM is not real life.

And that's not true but it's okkay...

It's true. Over 80%

No, it's not.

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/03/06/county-survey-resident-perception-of-moco-declines/

K-12 education received a 68% positive rating in 2024. That’s below the 81-82% range of the earlier surveys, a precipitous drop. Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s recommended budget increase is so huge that it will probably require a property tax increase to fully fund. If residents’ perceptions of MCPS are indeed declining, are they willing to pay?

13% response rate. < 1000 responses.

Happy people don’t take surveys.

So 42% of 13% are unhappy. That is 5% so that’s a 95% positivity rating

That response rate is up from 2021. Did you dismiss the previous survey results as invalid based on response rate or do you only dismiss the results when they’re unfavorable to MCPS?

If you have issues with the county’s methodology, take it up with the county.

I just miss the response rates for every survey that’s only 13%.

That’s not a good measurement of anything.

Every school has a safety report. You should read that, that’s much better and more informative than this stupid survey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Takoma Park crowd and County Council has really led the County and MCPS to a bad place. 15 years ago MCPS had the best schools in the DMV. Now, folks are trying wondering what happened and how did it get so bad so quickly. Well, its likely going to get worse, unless the County realizes its mistakes and MCPS will continue the trend of most of the best student leaving for private school which will further erode school performance.

Only those loud minority on DCUM.

Another BOE or MCPS CO or TKPK rah, rah cheerleader? But it won't change the facts, no matter how much you blog here. Go ahead and do the Marie Antoinette thing all you want. Just don't be surprised when TKPK feels the squeeze.

MCPS is sliding and if they don't cut it out, they're headed to the dumpster. And guess what. All those cush six-figure Hungerford CO jobs and TKPK programs and special buses to TJ will be the first things cut from the budget. MCPS really can't read the handwriting on the wall, can they? Let me connect the dots for you.

1. Electric prices are through the roof. Not only are residents pocketbooks hit, but all those shiny electric buses that MCPS bought will draw down their operating budget.
2. Feds are let go. Many of them were in MC (ex. FDA, USDA, etc.). Even though they got a temporary boost from a VERA or VSIP, that money will run out by around xmas. From there, the job market is pretty bleak and you should see a whole bunch of super expensive houses up for fire sale come spring.
3. No expensive houses = less tax revenue = budget shortfall. Who's got the biggest chunk of labor budget who can be cut? You guessed it. MCPS will be belt tightening.
4. MAGA turned all those same TKPK lefties MCPS catered to into omega dogs... so no bailout help coming for at least 3+ years. That's a lot of budget shortfall to eat.

IF MCPS was smart, they'd start drawing down the budget now to avoid teacher cuts. The problem is that when was the last time MCPS did anything that made common sense? My guess is two years from now it will be a bloodbath. And here's the rub - if MCPS does something really stupid like cut academic programs in favor of friends-and-family programs, you can bet that parents will push for vouchers. MC Council won't have any choice but to pass it. Why? Because it's cheaper and they can draw down labor. Once that happens, MCPS will go the way of many, many other metropolitan public school systems and become a place that's more of a penal colony than an educational system.

Y'all better wake up. If you care about public education, better stop playing games.

But whatever. I've said my peace. Y'all can go on and bicker like you always do about how great MCPS is.

Really doubt you’ll see firesale on MoCo houses— and no idea what “omega dogs” are or how that’s relevant.

Bottom line is no one doubts there’s been changes to the county and MCPS and for DCUMlandia they probably haven’t been improvements but neither the county nor the schools are the shithole that some of you seem to want to think they are.

That’s because your standards are low. I don’t even know how people like you ended up in moco. That itself says a lot.

We’ve been in Moco for generations. We know the real story.

All you newbies are a bunch of whiny crybabies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the chances that all the positive comments are coming from parents of Ws (including "honorary" BCC), Blair/Poolesville magnets or RMIB? The OP/topic clearly is system-wide, and we know MCPS doesn't provide equitable experiences across clusters.

The vast majority of MoCo parents IRL are happy with MCPS.
Most of the ones posting here are private schools parents, trolls and wannabes.
DCUM is not real life.

And that's not true but it's okkay...

It's true. Over 80%

No, it's not.

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2025/03/06/county-survey-resident-perception-of-moco-declines/

K-12 education received a 68% positive rating in 2024. That’s below the 81-82% range of the earlier surveys, a precipitous drop. Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s recommended budget increase is so huge that it will probably require a property tax increase to fully fund. If residents’ perceptions of MCPS are indeed declining, are they willing to pay?

13% response rate. < 1000 responses.

Happy people don’t take surveys.

So 42% of 13% are unhappy. That is 5% so that’s a 95% positivity rating

That response rate is up from 2021. Did you dismiss the previous survey results as invalid based on response rate or do you only dismiss the results when they’re unfavorable to MCPS?

If you have issues with the county’s methodology, take it up with the county.

I just miss the response rates for every survey that’s only 13%.

That’s not a good measurement of anything.

Every school has a safety report. You should read that, that’s much better and more informative than this stupid survey.

You're ridiculous. It's a statistically valid survey run by professionals from the county. The 1,000 responses is based on a randomized sampling of 6,000 residents. If you don't know what sampling is, then that's on you.

Furthermore, the Security at a Glance reports you're referencing have not been updated since the 2021-2022 school year: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/safetyglance/

So what insightful, significant information is to be gleaned from a report the system has stopped issuing since 2022?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Takoma Park crowd and County Council has really led the County and MCPS to a bad place. 15 years ago MCPS had the best schools in the DMV. Now, folks are trying wondering what happened and how did it get so bad so quickly. Well, its likely going to get worse, unless the County realizes its mistakes and MCPS will continue the trend of most of the best student leaving for private school which will further erode school performance.

Only those loud minority on DCUM.

Another BOE or MCPS CO or TKPK rah, rah cheerleader? But it won't change the facts, no matter how much you blog here. Go ahead and do the Marie Antoinette thing all you want. Just don't be surprised when TKPK feels the squeeze.

MCPS is sliding and if they don't cut it out, they're headed to the dumpster. And guess what. All those cush six-figure Hungerford CO jobs and TKPK programs and special buses to TJ will be the first things cut from the budget. MCPS really can't read the handwriting on the wall, can they? Let me connect the dots for you.

1. Electric prices are through the roof. Not only are residents pocketbooks hit, but all those shiny electric buses that MCPS bought will draw down their operating budget.
2. Feds are let go. Many of them were in MC (ex. FDA, USDA, etc.). Even though they got a temporary boost from a VERA or VSIP, that money will run out by around xmas. From there, the job market is pretty bleak and you should see a whole bunch of super expensive houses up for fire sale come spring.
3. No expensive houses = less tax revenue = budget shortfall. Who's got the biggest chunk of labor budget who can be cut? You guessed it. MCPS will be belt tightening.
4. MAGA turned all those same TKPK lefties MCPS catered to into omega dogs... so no bailout help coming for at least 3+ years. That's a lot of budget shortfall to eat.

IF MCPS was smart, they'd start drawing down the budget now to avoid teacher cuts. The problem is that when was the last time MCPS did anything that made common sense? My guess is two years from now it will be a bloodbath. And here's the rub - if MCPS does something really stupid like cut academic programs in favor of friends-and-family programs, you can bet that parents will push for vouchers. MC Council won't have any choice but to pass it. Why? Because it's cheaper and they can draw down labor. Once that happens, MCPS will go the way of many, many other metropolitan public school systems and become a place that's more of a penal colony than an educational system.

Y'all better wake up. If you care about public education, better stop playing games.

But whatever. I've said my peace. Y'all can go on and bicker like you always do about how great MCPS is.

Really doubt you’ll see firesale on MoCo houses— and no idea what “omega dogs” are or how that’s relevant.

Bottom line is no one doubts there’s been changes to the county and MCPS and for DCUMlandia they probably haven’t been improvements but neither the county nor the schools are the shithole that some of you seem to want to think they are.

That’s because your standards are low. I don’t even know how people like you ended up in moco. That itself says a lot.

We’ve been in Moco for generations. We know the real story.

All you newbies are a bunch of whiny crybabies

LOL. In MoCo for generations and still can't graduate... Do tell us the "real" story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Takoma Park crowd and County Council has really led the County and MCPS to a bad place. 15 years ago MCPS had the best schools in the DMV. Now, folks are trying wondering what happened and how did it get so bad so quickly. Well, its likely going to get worse, unless the County realizes its mistakes and MCPS will continue the trend of most of the best student leaving for private school which will further erode school performance.

Only those loud minority on DCUM.

Another BOE or MCPS CO or TKPK rah, rah cheerleader? But it won't change the facts, no matter how much you blog here. Go ahead and do the Marie Antoinette thing all you want. Just don't be surprised when TKPK feels the squeeze.

MCPS is sliding and if they don't cut it out, they're headed to the dumpster. And guess what. All those cush six-figure Hungerford CO jobs and TKPK programs and special buses to TJ will be the first things cut from the budget. MCPS really can't read the handwriting on the wall, can they? Let me connect the dots for you.

1. Electric prices are through the roof. Not only are residents pocketbooks hit, but all those shiny electric buses that MCPS bought will draw down their operating budget.
2. Feds are let go. Many of them were in MC (ex. FDA, USDA, etc.). Even though they got a temporary boost from a VERA or VSIP, that money will run out by around xmas. From there, the job market is pretty bleak and you should see a whole bunch of super expensive houses up for fire sale come spring.
3. No expensive houses = less tax revenue = budget shortfall. Who's got the biggest chunk of labor budget who can be cut? You guessed it. MCPS will be belt tightening.
4. MAGA turned all those same TKPK lefties MCPS catered to into omega dogs... so no bailout help coming for at least 3+ years. That's a lot of budget shortfall to eat.

IF MCPS was smart, they'd start drawing down the budget now to avoid teacher cuts. The problem is that when was the last time MCPS did anything that made common sense? My guess is two years from now it will be a bloodbath. And here's the rub - if MCPS does something really stupid like cut academic programs in favor of friends-and-family programs, you can bet that parents will push for vouchers. MC Council won't have any choice but to pass it. Why? Because it's cheaper and they can draw down labor. Once that happens, MCPS will go the way of many, many other metropolitan public school systems and become a place that's more of a penal colony than an educational system.

Y'all better wake up. If you care about public education, better stop playing games.

But whatever. I've said my peace. Y'all can go on and bicker like you always do about how great MCPS is.

Really doubt you’ll see firesale on MoCo houses— and no idea what “omega dogs” are or how that’s relevant.

Bottom line is no one doubts there’s been changes to the county and MCPS and for DCUMlandia they probably haven’t been improvements but neither the county nor the schools are the shithole that some of you seem to want to think they are.

That’s because your standards are low. I don’t even know how people like you ended up in moco. That itself says a lot.

We’ve been in Moco for generations. We know the real story.

All you newbies are a bunch of whiny crybabies

LOL. In MoCo for generations and still can't graduate... Do tell us the "real" story.

MCPS was bad years ago, but there wasn't the social media and news to share with parents so less outrage. Its gotten far worse over the years.

[Anonymous]

Now in order to be promoted in mcps many admin show their loyalty with coverups of violence at the expense of new teachers. It's a great plan because there is an over abundance of teachers out there. Jk.

[Anonymous]

It's truly amazing the bubble we live in here in Montgomery County when people can say the school system is "bad". Have you people never lived anywhere else in the country? Even if things were to truly crater here it would still be a better education than like 90% of the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's truly amazing the bubble we live in here in Montgomery County when people can say the school system is "bad". Have you people never lived anywhere else in the country? Even if things were to truly crater here it would still be a better education than like 90% of the country.

And your bar is that low? We moved here for the schools 20-something years ago, and pulled our kids out - they graduated from private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The lowest of the low is very low at MCPS. We are absolutely graduating kids who have a 5-6th grade education level. Discipline is non existent. This may or may not affect your kids depending on where you live

What now? This is not my experience AT ALL and my kids attend a high FARM school. We have kids going to top universities. We have kids who are winning national STEM competitions and getting scholarships. Yes, there are kids who don't give a crap about their education or don't go to school because they'd rather F around. Those kids- yes, they will graduate with a 5th and 6th grade level of education. But by far, majority of kids are going to college or trade school and will be doing well for themselves. Stop being dramatic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's truly amazing the bubble we live in here in Montgomery County when people can say the school system is "bad". Have you people never lived anywhere else in the country? Even if things were to truly crater here it would still be a better education than like 90% of the country.

Hello, Lynne Harris.

DP here. I can't stand that lady but truly- majority of you claiming a death sentence to MCPS are DELUSIONAL. Please go away and move elsewhere. Guarantee you'll eventually crap on it too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's truly amazing the bubble we live in here in Montgomery County when people can say the school system is "bad". Have you people never lived anywhere else in the country? Even if things were to truly crater here it would still be a better education than like 90% of the country.

I think the issue is that folks are remembering THEIR high school experience, typically in an UMC highly segregated suburb of a Midwestern city. So, because this was pre social media, they knew less about what was going on even in the school they attended, AND their own experience was heavily curated/cloistered and they can't understand why they can't afford such a rarefied experience for their own kids so they blame MCPS.

The actual factors are much deeper, rising income inequality, college debt, international competition that is raising the stakes for college admissions, and overall rising poverty in the United States.

[Anonymous]

I avoid this by sending my kids to private. If I couldn’t afford that I’d likely home school. At least that way I know my kids would be able to learn how to read.

[Anonymous]

Lot of people in here have very long drawn out and downright creative ways of saying they are afraid of black and brown kids associating with their precious angels

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I avoid this by sending my kids to private. If I couldn’t afford that I’d likely home school. At least that way I know my kids would be able to learn how to read.

But they cannot compete with MCPS kids.