5/12 County Council Meeting -- Gutting MCPS Budget Request to the Tune of $180M

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they pass the full budget request? I just logged in to watch the live and heard some thing along this line?

It's not official until next week but I believe they have finalized their plan and did their "straw vote" to verify they have enough votes-- if I understand correctly, they took $36M from the MCPS capital budget and shifted it to the MCPS operating budget to limit the MCPS operating budget cuts to $36M.

A $36M cut would mean the first two pages of cuts on the document that Taylor sent out earlier this week (assuming Taylor does not make any adjustments to his recommendations on where to cut from, and the Board of Ed does not make any adjustments either), but no cuts from pages 3-5.

It's not a cut. It is a lower increase than what they asked for.

Yes, but that increase is needed to cover all the things in the budget. You can’t expect them to plug the employee benefits hole, take on more pension cost from the state, have to implement new requirements for Math and for Blueprint, lose government grants and then still have funding for everything. Cuts and changes have to come from somewhere.

I saw this every year, the community should list out what it is they are willing to see cut.

Just be honest the money is mostly for the raises. They could reduce them a little to the level the county employees are getting and easily pay for the positions.

No it’s the new regional plan and other changes.

Nope, compensation changes cost much more than anything else

Plenty they can cut back starting in central office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most classroom teachers at my school live in Frederick or Howard counties. I can only think of a few that aren't. I'm not too sure where the claim that the majority reside here is coming from. Can you cite a source?

What school are you at?

The source is up thread, you can search for it if you want.

Teacher salaries and benefits are better than the median income of most workers in Montgomery County. Those teachers are living in other places because they want a bigger house than most people who live here

A small not great home starts at 500k if you are lucky and higher interest rates. Not including property taxes, utilities, etc. that’s not affordable at a $150k two income family with day care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they pass the full budget request? I just logged in to watch the live and heard some thing along this line?

It's not official until next week but I believe they have finalized their plan and did their "straw vote" to verify they have enough votes-- if I understand correctly, they took $36M from the MCPS capital budget and shifted it to the MCPS operating budget to limit the MCPS operating budget cuts to $36M.

A $36M cut would mean the first two pages of cuts on the document that Taylor sent out earlier this week (assuming Taylor does not make any adjustments to his recommendations on where to cut from, and the Board of Ed does not make any adjustments either), but no cuts from pages 3-5.

It's not a cut. It is a lower increase than what they asked for.

Yes, but that increase is needed to cover all the things in the budget. You can’t expect them to plug the employee benefits hole, take on more pension cost from the state, have to implement new requirements for Math and for Blueprint, lose government grants and then still have funding for everything. Cuts and changes have to come from somewhere.

I saw this every year, the community should list out what it is they are willing to see cut.

Just be honest the money is mostly for the raises. They could reduce them a little to the level the county employees are getting and easily pay for the positions.

No it’s the new regional plan and other changes.

Nope, compensation changes cost much more than anything else

Plenty they can cut back starting in central office.

+1. We could all come up with a list for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most classroom teachers at my school live in Frederick or Howard counties. I can only think of a few that aren't. I'm not too sure where the claim that the majority reside here is coming from. Can you cite a source?

What school are you at?

The source is up thread, you can search for it if you want.

Teacher salaries and benefits are better than the median income of most workers in Montgomery County. Those teachers are living in other places because they want a bigger house than most people who live here

A small not great home starts at 500k if you are lucky and higher interest rates. Not including property taxes, utilities, etc. that’s not affordable at a $150k two income family with day care.

Very few people can buy a home with two entry level salaries. You save up and wait until your salary goes up. Most people earn the same or less and also have high deductible health care plans and no pension. Most of their retirement savings has to come out of their salary or they will have nothing when they retire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most classroom teachers at my school live in Frederick or Howard counties. I can only think of a few that aren't. I'm not too sure where the claim that the majority reside here is coming from. Can you cite a source?

What school are you at?

The source is up thread, you can search for it if you want.

Teacher salaries and benefits are better than the median income of most workers in Montgomery County. Those teachers are living in other places because they want a bigger house than most people who live here

A small not great home starts at 500k if you are lucky and higher interest rates. Not including property taxes, utilities, etc. that’s not affordable at a $150k two income family with day care.

And yet somehow MCPS is full of students whose parents live here on significantly less. Mysteriously, they're able to do it when teachers aren't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most classroom teachers at my school live in Frederick or Howard counties. I can only think of a few that aren't. I'm not too sure where the claim that the majority reside here is coming from. Can you cite a source?

What school are you at?

The source is up thread, you can search for it if you want.

Teacher salaries and benefits are better than the median income of most workers in Montgomery County. Those teachers are living in other places because they want a bigger house than most people who live here

A small not great home starts at 500k if you are lucky and higher interest rates. Not including property taxes, utilities, etc. that’s not affordable at a $150k two income family with day care.

And yet somehow MCPS is full of students whose parents live here on significantly less. Mysteriously, they're able to do it when teachers aren't.

Because they earn so little they get benefits? I’m a teacher married to a teacher and everyone I know in our neighborhood that owns their home has higher paying jobs. We are forever renters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most classroom teachers at my school live in Frederick or Howard counties. I can only think of a few that aren't. I'm not too sure where the claim that the majority reside here is coming from. Can you cite a source?

What school are you at?

The source is up thread, you can search for it if you want.

Teacher salaries and benefits are better than the median income of most workers in Montgomery County. Those teachers are living in other places because they want a bigger house than most people who live here

A small not great home starts at 500k if you are lucky and higher interest rates. Not including property taxes, utilities, etc. that’s not affordable at a $150k two income family with day care.

And yet somehow MCPS is full of students whose parents live here on significantly less. Mysteriously, they're able to do it when teachers aren't.

Only less they can get day care vouchers and other help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most classroom teachers at my school live in Frederick or Howard counties. I can only think of a few that aren't. I'm not too sure where the claim that the majority reside here is coming from. Can you cite a source?

What school are you at?

The source is up thread, you can search for it if you want.

Teacher salaries and benefits are better than the median income of most workers in Montgomery County. Those teachers are living in other places because they want a bigger house than most people who live here

Or because they already lived in the other county and wanted a higher paying job. I live in Frederick and it's well known that MCPS pays better than FCPS. People commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most classroom teachers at my school live in Frederick or Howard counties. I can only think of a few that aren't. I'm not too sure where the claim that the majority reside here is coming from. Can you cite a source?

What school are you at?

The source is up thread, you can search for it if you want.

Teacher salaries and benefits are better than the median income of most workers in Montgomery County. Those teachers are living in other places because they want a bigger house than most people who live here

Or because they already lived in the other county and wanted a higher paying job. I live in Frederick and it's well known that MCPS pays better than FCPS. People commute.

Commuting is very normal regardless of the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most classroom teachers at my school live in Frederick or Howard counties. I can only think of a few that aren't. I'm not too sure where the claim that the majority reside here is coming from. Can you cite a source?

What school are you at?

The source is up thread, you can search for it if you want.

Teacher salaries and benefits are better than the median income of most workers in Montgomery County. Those teachers are living in other places because they want a bigger house than most people who live here

A small not great home starts at 500k if you are lucky and higher interest rates. Not including property taxes, utilities, etc. that’s not affordable at a $150k two income family with day care.

And yet somehow MCPS is full of students whose parents live here on significantly less. Mysteriously, they're able to do it when teachers aren't.

They want bigger homes and some land. There are many who move to Fredrick once they have kids because they can’t afford to live within boundary of certain schools with certain demographics. Fredrick isn’t as diverse, I guess. I live in moco in condo 10 mins from my school because I value my time and diversity.