AP exams free next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

Agree. Pay for AP exams for FARMS kids, and let everyone else pay for their own.

This. This is what I meant. Wealthy people, including the PP, can afford to pay themselves.

So you'd rather pay to implement means-testing?

NP. They could just offer it for free to kids who receive FARMs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/CSJR4E67517D/$file/Final%20Adopt%20of%20FY%202024%20Op%20Bdgt%20230606.pdf

• Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams funding for increased student
participation—$3,397,401

so what did they cut? Or did they not cut anything, and just asked MoCo for more money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/CSJR4E67517D/$file/Final%20Adopt%20of%20FY%202024%20Op%20Bdgt%20230606.pdf

• Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams funding for increased student
participation—$3,397,401

so what did they cut? Or did they not cut anything, and just asked MoCo for more money?

If you read the linked memo, the budget reductions are listed on pages 7 and 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

Agree. Pay for AP exams for FARMS kids, and let everyone else pay for their own.

This. This is what I meant. Wealthy people, including the PP, can afford to pay themselves.

So you'd rather pay to implement means-testing?

NP. They could just offer it for free to kids who receive FARMs.

"They" who? "Just"? The way it works now, each student has to register with the College Board for the AP test(s) or with the International Baccalaureate for the IB test(s), and then separately ask MCPS for help paying. How much additional work do you want to load on the counselors? Is the savings for FARMS-only vs. everyone worth it in order to satisfy your feeling that non-poor parents should be responsible for paying for the tests?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

Agree. Pay for AP exams for FARMS kids, and let everyone else pay for their own.

This. This is what I meant. Wealthy people, including the PP, can afford to pay themselves.

So you'd rather pay to implement means-testing?

We're already paying for that. Do you propose eliminating FARMs and offering universal school lunch? Maybe they will push rich parents to demanding better lunches, to prevent their kids getting sick from the garbage schools serve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

Agree. Pay for AP exams for FARMS kids, and let everyone else pay for their own.

This. This is what I meant. Wealthy people, including the PP, can afford to pay themselves.

So you'd rather pay to implement means-testing?

NP. They could just offer it for free to kids who receive FARMs.

"They" who? "Just"? The way it works now, each student has to register with the College Board for the AP test(s) or with the International Baccalaureate for the IB test(s), and then separately ask MCPS for help paying. How much additional work do you want to load on the counselors? Is the savings for FARMS-only vs. everyone worth it in order to satisfy your feeling that non-poor parents should be responsible for paying for the tests?

What load?

The students sign up. The computer does "if not student.farms then add $98 item to schoolPay invoice"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

Agree. Pay for AP exams for FARMS kids, and let everyone else pay for their own.

This. This is what I meant. Wealthy people, including the PP, can afford to pay themselves.

So you'd rather pay to implement means-testing?

NP. They could just offer it for free to kids who receive FARMs.

"They" who? "Just"? The way it works now, each student has to register with the College Board for the AP test(s) or with the International Baccalaureate for the IB test(s), and then separately ask MCPS for help paying. How much additional work do you want to load on the counselors? Is the savings for FARMS-only vs. everyone worth it in order to satisfy your feeling that non-poor parents should be responsible for paying for the tests?

What load?

The students sign up. The computer does "if not student.farms then add $98 item to schoolPay invoice"

Everything is always simpler when you have little or no knowledge of the actual systems and processes.

[Anonymous]

Not a fan of College Board, but MD has a choice of paying CB, or CLEP, or creating their own tests.

In theory, overall, college level exam fees should pay for themselves in overall reduction of college courses, for the fraction students if students who graduate college early, saving over $1000 for each $100 test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

Agree. Pay for AP exams for FARMS kids, and let everyone else pay for their own.

This. This is what I meant. Wealthy people, including the PP, can afford to pay themselves.

So you'd rather pay to implement means-testing?

We're already paying for that. Do you propose eliminating FARMs and offering universal school lunch? Maybe they will push rich parents to demanding better lunches, to prevent their kids getting sick from the garbage schools serve.

Actually yes, I think that would be a good thing. We had it for several years during covid. Minnesota passed a law this spring to make that permanent for public schools in the state: https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/FNS/SNP/free/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

Agree. Pay for AP exams for FARMS kids, and let everyone else pay for their own.

This. This is what I meant. Wealthy people, including the PP, can afford to pay themselves.

So you'd rather pay to implement means-testing?

NP. They could just offer it for free to kids who receive FARMs.

"They" who? "Just"? The way it works now, each student has to register with the College Board for the AP test(s) or with the International Baccalaureate for the IB test(s), and then separately ask MCPS for help paying. How much additional work do you want to load on the counselors? Is the savings for FARMS-only vs. everyone worth it in order to satisfy your feeling that non-poor parents should be responsible for paying for the tests?

What load?

The students sign up. The computer does "if not student.farms then add $98 item to schoolPay invoice"

Everything is always simpler when you have little or no knowledge of the actual systems and processes.

The overhead of wrangling more kids actually taking AP classes and tests will overwhelm costs managing payments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/CSJR4E67517D/$file/Final%20Adopt%20of%20FY%202024%20Op%20Bdgt%20230606.pdf

• Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams funding for increased student
participation—$3,397,401

so what did they cut? Or did they not cut anything, and just asked MoCo for more money?

If you read the linked memo, the budget reductions are listed on pages 7 and 8.

Thanks.. no time to read through the whole doc, but I read pg 8.

Part of what they cut:

- Expenditure trends: $966,887. Due to some historical under spending in certain accounts,
this funding can be reduced from staff training, student transportation, and contractual services
accounts.


Doesn't tell us what the "certain accounts" is.


-School-age Day Students in Nonpublic Schools: $500,000. Because of recent trends, MCPS
believes it can reduce its funding for the cost we pay for school-age day students attending
nonpublic schools.

Why were taxpayers paying for non public school students, and what exactly was MCPS paying for?

The pre-k private I can understand. But I don't get what the ^ funding was for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/CSJR4E67517D/$file/Final%20Adopt%20of%20FY%202024%20Op%20Bdgt%20230606.pdf

• Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams funding for increased student
participation—$3,397,401

so what did they cut? Or did they not cut anything, and just asked MoCo for more money?

If you read the linked memo, the budget reductions are listed on pages 7 and 8.

Thanks.. no time to read through the whole doc, but I read pg 8.

Part of what they cut:

- Expenditure trends: $966,887. Due to some historical under spending in certain accounts,
this funding can be reduced from staff training, student transportation, and contractual services
accounts.


Doesn't tell us what the "certain accounts" is.


-School-age Day Students in Nonpublic Schools: $500,000. Because of recent trends, MCPS
believes it can reduce its funding for the cost we pay for school-age day students attending
nonpublic schools.

Why were taxpayers paying for non public school students, and what exactly was MCPS paying for?

The pre-k private I can understand. But I don't get what the ^ funding was for.

In some cases, students with special needs are best served by nonpublic school programs.

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/special-education/programs-services/placement-and-assessment/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

I think you’d be surprised, if you stepped out of your bubble, that there are lots and lots of middle class families who I guess can make tough choices and find the money, but when your child takes multiple exams and maybe you have multiple children, it is not some small amount. The threshold to qualify for FARMS is very low poverty. There are lots of people above the threshold who aren’t wealthy and this eliminates a barrier for those students. I am tired of everyone assuming everyone is so wealthy. Everything has gone up in price and is so expensive. FARMS families get various supports (and also often get paid cash and may earn more than is reported) and middle and working class families just keep getting squeezed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

Why pay for buses? Why pay for textbooks? Why pay the teachers?

They don't. There are no text books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest areas of the country. Why pay for AP exams for students whose parents can easily afford them?

I think you’d be surprised, if you stepped out of your bubble, that there are lots and lots of middle class families who I guess can make tough choices and find the money, but when your child takes multiple exams and maybe you have multiple children, it is not some small amount. The threshold to qualify for FARMS is very low poverty. There are lots of people above the threshold who aren’t wealthy and this eliminates a barrier for those students. I am tired of everyone assuming everyone is so wealthy. Everything has gone up in price and is so expensive. FARMS families get various supports (and also often get paid cash and may earn more than is reported) and middle and working class families just keep getting squeezed.

Working class families qualify for FARMS. For a household with 4 people (for example, 1 adult and 3 children), the maximum eligibility limit is $55,500. And families who qualify for FARMS are getting squeezed by the exact same things as non-wealthy families. People who think families who qualify for FARMS are living a plush life are welcome to reduce their income and try it out for themselves.