Montgomery County Proposed Budget for 2011 Concern?

[Anonymous]

Every child deserves a chance to reach their full potential.
The proposed cuts strongly hurt all children who need more than a typical very basic "one size fits all" education in order to thrive.

The proposal is dangerous, cynical and shameful.

[Anonymous]

Responder at 13:13 again-please provide actual reasons why you think Special Ed students would be disproportionately affected. Because based on OP's post, special ed transportation was not included in the list of cuts-OP's post, to the contrary, states at point (H) that the reduction would NOT impact special education transportation. There is no other mention of special ed at all here-in fact, this list seems geared mostly toward special programs which means magnets, not special ed. Do you mean to mislead, or are you just not reading the list of cuts OP put here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every child deserves a chance to reach their full potential.
The proposed cuts strongly hurt all children who need more than a typical very basic "one size fits all" education in order to thrive.

The proposal is dangerous, cynical and shameful.

My kids didn't win the magnet lottery for any magnet. So they're in the neighborhood school. They don't get to benefit from all the special programs and we aren't able to use private school. So, really, how does this impact me or my children? Make a case for why I should have a vested interest in your child's special programs when we don't get squat. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

The link you provided is a discussion of special needs preschool also, it is not a discussion of school for all special needs students. The coalition viewpoints just don't seem balanced or comprehensive. I wish they were because it could be a great place for discussion.

The elimination of the MPAC pre-school program is just one more example of the cutting of Special Education programs in Montgomery County. The Secondary Learning Centers were cut in previous years. The decision by Weast is to stop sending kids to the MPAC program where they can be educated to their fullest potential, and maybe transistion out of intense special education classrooms, and instead put these same children in a MCPS program that tracks them to their lowest potential.

This is a MCPS program decision that has been snuck in the budget, as Weast does every year. The Board of Education will sit silent. In two nights of budget hearings have Board members asked a single question????

Last year, Board of Education member Laura Berthiaume spoke out about the silence of the Board and the transcript of her statement was posted to the Parents' Coalition blog:

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2009/02/berthiaume-im-sorry.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A note on the white boards: at our school all the boards were purchased by the PTA with money donated by parents for that purpose. With regard to MoCo's budget, the county budget last year was $4.3 billion, 50% of that for schools. I'm sure Weast could find more actual fat in there, but he likes to use scare tactics instead. Furthermore, I'm not convinced that MoCo has any ability to handle the budget and accounting function-I doubt there's enough detailed data on their spending so that they can make truly informed decisions.

Wow! How many Promethean boards did your PTA purchase? They cost about $6000 EACH!

The school has at least two, they may have three. And yes, they do cost $6000 each. One family donated the entire $6000 for one board. Other elementaries near us have more boards. I don't think we're a particularly rich PTA either.

That's so sad.
For under $100 and a lap top a teacher can make their own

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2009/12/diy-smartboard-smart-idea.html

OR a Board can be purchased from a company that was not allowed to bid on the MCPS purchases.
Eno by Polyvision - those Boards can be written on with dry-erase markers in addition to everything the Promethean Boards can do. And the Eno Boards last a lifetime, not the 7 years of a Promethean Board and are cheaper.

http://www.polyvision.com/tabid/155/objectid/70/default.aspx

And your PTA bought Promethean Boards because???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Responder at 13:13 again-please provide actual reasons why you think Special Ed students would be disproportionately affected. Because based on OP's post, special ed transportation was not included in the list of cuts-OP's post, to the contrary, states at point (H) that the reduction would NOT impact special education transportation. There is no other mention of special ed at all here-in fact, this list seems geared mostly toward special programs which means magnets, not special ed. Do you mean to mislead, or are you just not reading the list of cuts OP put here?

The cut list is separate from what is in the Proposed Budget. Special Education budget changes are in the proposed budget. Read the budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone concerned about the cuts that are being proposed for the budget? Is there anything parents can do?

SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL BUDGET REDUCTIONS
Total 534.0 $42,998,662

Jerry Weast has already told the Board of Ed that the list of cuts isn't final. He has even retracted some of the things on this list. He won't make some of the cuts even if he needs to cut budget.
He wrote the Board a memo on Jan 8 that is on the Parents' Coalition blog if you want to read it.

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2010/01/fuzzy-math-at-its-best.html

It isn't on the MCPS website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My kids didn't win the magnet lottery for any magnet. So they're in the neighborhood school. They don't get to benefit from all the special programs and we aren't able to use private school. So, really, how does this impact me or my children? Make a case for why I should have a vested interest in your child's special programs when we don't get squat. Thanks.

The cuts (as seen in the OPs post) are not just a magnet issue. They target, among others:
Extra staffing in high-poverty schools, psychologists, counselors, social workers, academic support for struggling students in all elementry schools, after school programs, busing for the downcounty consortium (which is a student choice program, not a "magnet", and no transportation will effectively end the program), transportation to IB programs.

This will prevent a wide range of the kids in the county from reaching their potential.
Even if your children are not in a magnet now, and get no special academic support, I imagine you still want them to have options in the future (e.g. be able to choose a from the consortia schools or have the option of an IB program).

[Anonymous]

With lots of other threads complaining that K is too intense in MCPS, maybe a solution to the budget crisis would be to eliminate full-day K and go back to half day.