The Best Remedy for Maryland K-12 Schooling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

DP

No, not kind of like MCPS. MCPS draws from the entire County.

MCPS is just ridiculously large. And the system is not working because it is too large.

That's it, I'm moving to Tuvalu.

[Anonymous]

We also came from a state that didn't have a county only school system. The several school districts were independent of the county, townships, and city. If you lived within the zone for that school district your portion of local taxes for the schools went to that district not the city, town or county you lived in. I can't remember whether we wrote the tax check to the school district or simply the city or state and they paid the local school district. Regardless, you do not need a separate municipal government entity to have an independent school district.

Using this system, you could easily have a Silver Spring Unified School System or Silver Spring Independent School System. The community would define the zones -in other states this requires petitioning. The portion of school funding collected by the local government from those residents goes to the new school district.

Pros

1. You get smaller school districts but not so tiny that they struggle to survive. You get VERY representative leadership not only at the school board level but at the principal level. Principals and teachers have a lot more authority and autonomy. There's no vetting through eight layers in the central office to send an email. Resources are put into the schools not the bureaucracy.

2. You get more business/community involvement. Local businesses, bigger firms and other opportunities are more easily pursued. There is no "gee interesting donation or grant opportunity but how will Pat O-Neil benefit? Oh she won't well never mind."

3. You get stable boundaries. Once the school system is established the boundaries are determined by residency and tied to local taxes. Its difficult and not in the interest of anyone to suddenly shift the boundaries despite residents desires. This promotes property values.

4. The community can vote in special tax assessments to fund new things. The money is ear marked not thrown into a big pot to be used on something else. Again -more representative government.

5. You get a much more rationale school system. There isn't a PR department needed to spin the latest boondoggle. There aren't endless millions spent on consultants for navel gazing. Money can be spent on outsourcing services like IT to get IT that works instead of paying millions for in-house work that is always broken.

6. Teacher professional development is much stronger too. There isn't this insular training program that only exposes teachers to central office vetted, changed and messed up materials. Teachers are encouraged to look to broader more established university-level peer reviewed materials and professional development is driven by the teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We also came from a state that didn't have a county only school system. The several school districts were independent of the county, townships, and city. If you lived within the zone for that school district your portion of local taxes for the schools went to that district not the city, town or county you lived in. I can't remember whether we wrote the tax check to the school district or simply the city or state and they paid the local school district. Regardless, you do not need a separate municipal government entity to have an independent school district.

Using this system, you could easily have a Silver Spring Unified School System or Silver Spring Independent School System. The community would define the zones -in other states this requires petitioning. The portion of school funding collected by the local government from those residents goes to the new school district.

But Maryland doesn't use this system.

I could easily ski every afternoon, if I lived in a place where there are mountains with snow. But I don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I’m from a state with town based school systems and that’s really not how it works...many school systems draw from an incorporated town and then a few unincorporated areas that surround it.

Kind of like MCPS, huh?

Maryland really doesn't have town-based anything. It's just not how the state government is set up. The basic unit of local government is the county.

DP

No, not kind of like MCPS. MCPS draws from the entire County.

MCPS is just ridiculously large. And the system is not working because it is too large.

So that must mean all of these systems are "not working" either? What is the magic number of students at which a school system becomes too large?

Largest School Districts in the United States
Rank ?School district name Location Enrollment
1 New York City Department of Education New York 995,336
2 Los Angeles Unified School District California 667,273
3 Puerto Rico Department of Education Puerto Rico 437,202
4 Chicago Public Schools Illinois 405,655
5 Miami-Dade County Public Schools Florida 347,366
6 Clark County School District Nevada 314,059
7 Broward County Public Schools Florida 256,472
8 Houston Independent School District Texas 204,245
9 Hillsborough County Public Schools Florida 194,525
10 Hawaii Department of Education Hawaii 179,601
11 Orange County Public Schools Florida 176,008
12 School District of Palm Beach County Florida 174,663
13 Fairfax County Public Schools Virginia 174,479
14 School District of Philadelphia Pennsylvania 166,233
15 Gwinnett County Public Schools Georgia 160,744

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

3. You get stable boundaries. Once the school system is established the boundaries are determined by residency and tied to local taxes. Its difficult and not in the interest of anyone to suddenly shift the boundaries despite residents desires. This promotes property values.

MCPS has stable boundaries, no? The boundaries have been the same since October 1, 1776.

[Anonymous]

Just because MD doesn't structure it this way now, it doesn't mean that MD couldn't change this. The MD state legislature could change it. Voters if they choose to organize could change this.

Some of the pro-MCPS posters (who are probably from MCPS but not teachers) seem to feel that MCPS is an entity above any accountability and that tax payers, students, teachers and parents belong to them to be used as they see fit.

MCPS is a perfect example of a failed system and could be the impetus to change the MD rules on public school provision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just because MD doesn't structure it this way now, it doesn't mean that MD couldn't change this. The MD state legislature could change it. Voters if they choose to organize could change this.

Some of the pro-MCPS posters (who are probably from MCPS but not teachers) seem to feel that MCPS is an entity above any accountability and that tax payers, students, teachers and parents belong to them to be used as they see fit.

MCPS is a perfect example of a failed system and could be the impetus to change the MD rules on public school provision.

Just because pigs don't fly now, it doesn't mean that they couldn't change this. Birds have wings. Pigs could too, if they chose to.

(And if you think that MCPS is a perfect example of a failed system, consider looking around a bit.)

[Anonymous]

Actually within education circles and more importantly higher education circles, MCPS is being studied as an example of a failed system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I’m from a state with town based school systems and that’s really not how it works...many school systems draw from an incorporated town and then a few unincorporated areas that surround it.

Kind of like MCPS, huh?

Maryland really doesn't have town-based anything. It's just not how the state government is set up. The basic unit of local government is the county.

DP

No, not kind of like MCPS. MCPS draws from the entire County.

MCPS is just ridiculously large. And the system is not working because it is too large.

But MCPS also draws from several incorporated municipalities and the unincorporated areas that surround them...?

Yes but the boundaries have nothing to do with municipalities...the boundaries are the COUNTY.

[Anonymous]

I think if MCPS tries to adopt a consortium based system throughout the county with people being assigned to any of 4-5 schools within a boundary area which is redefined to create defacto racial and SES modeling then I think an organized effort to change the state laws and break it apart will occur.

Someone from MCPS floats the idea of moving away from home school boundaries toward consortiums every few weeks. Its an idea that has been floating around MCPS and the BOE in the context of engaging a consultant to study "new ideas" for the boundaries. MCPS is investing in expansions in schools like Seneca Valley and Kennedy despite these school being projected to be under capacity or no growth. MCPS is interesting in racial and SES modeling beyond anything else. I guarantee you that getting rid of home schools and moving to larger consortiums will be one of the recommendations from the consultants.

Everyone is going to be angry when they take away home schools but they already laid the foundation in the Metis report. The Metis report already showed (at the request of MCPS) that the DCC is not working because the schools are self segregating with the choice options. The only way for MCPS to rebalance this is to do away with home schools and use geographic location as proxy for race to make school assignments.

Just watch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually within education circles and more importantly higher education circles, MCPS is being studied as an example of a failed system.

You don't say? Would you please share links to these studies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually within education circles and more importantly higher education circles, MCPS is being studied as an example of a failed system.

Not being snarky... cite your source? I'm genuinely curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually within education circles and more importantly higher education circles, MCPS is being studied as an example of a failed system.

Not being snarky... cite your source? I'm genuinely curious.

fake news

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think if MCPS tries to adopt a consortium based system throughout the county with people being assigned to any of 4-5 schools within a boundary area which is redefined to create defacto racial and SES modeling then I think an organized effort to change the state laws and break it apart will occur.

Someone from MCPS floats the idea of moving away from home school boundaries toward consortiums every few weeks. Its an idea that has been floating around MCPS and the BOE in the context of engaging a consultant to study "new ideas" for the boundaries. MCPS is investing in expansions in schools like Seneca Valley and Kennedy despite these school being projected to be under capacity or no growth. MCPS is interesting in racial and SES modeling beyond anything else. I guarantee you that getting rid of home schools and moving to larger consortiums will be one of the recommendations from the consultants.

Everyone is going to be angry when they take away home schools but they already laid the foundation in the Metis report. The Metis report already showed (at the request of MCPS) that the DCC is not working because the schools are self segregating with the choice options. The only way for MCPS to rebalance this is to do away with home schools and use geographic location as proxy for race to make school assignments.

Just watch.

It would be so cool if they did this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

3. You get stable boundaries. Once the school system is established the boundaries are determined by residency and tied to local taxes. Its difficult and not in the interest of anyone to suddenly shift the boundaries despite residents desires. This promotes property values.

Montgomery County has existed as a county since 1776.

MCPS is the school system for MoCo. The boundaries are clear.

Property values and their maintenance or enhancement is not part of the mission of MCPS. The mission of MCPS is to educate all of the students in the county.