Budget- CE recommended budget $55.7M less

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

That is a double-edged sword. The staffing crisis, particularly special ed teachers, paras, and SLPs, is only getting worse. Many people are very unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are only staying in the job because they feel handcuffed by having good insurance. If it gets expensive and worse, I promise you more people will quit, because they already wanted to and the last reason to put up with the garbage will be gone. They also already sold this year's change from CareFirst to Cigna as a way to get the same coverage for cheaper and appear to have gotten that spectacularly wrong or had one pulled over on them by Cigna, so why should anyone trust them to know what they're doing with this?

The solution to that is to do a targeted pay raise for SPED positions, and to provide benefits to paras. It's not fiscally practical to increase benefits for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DEI teacher at our school teaches 1 class period and has 4 class periods to make presentations and attend meetings. I mean, what??? I say that if you are not in front of a classroom full of students then your job should be seen as expendable. There is plenty of fat to trim in the budget.

Should start with getting rid of the virtual academy. Such a waste of money for a failed program that caters to a small group

That will definitely happen in the next budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DEI teacher at our school teaches 1 class period and has 4 class periods to make presentations and attend meetings. I mean, what??? I say that if you are not in front of a classroom full of students then your job should be seen as expendable. There is plenty of fat to trim in the budget.

Should start with getting rid of the virtual academy. Such a waste of money for a failed program that caters to a small group

Taking services away from children that need it is the last thing that should be done. We are all over the virtual argument. Just stop. It’s been funded for next year. It’s a drop in the bucket. End of story. Next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DEI teacher at our school teaches 1 class period and has 4 class periods to make presentations and attend meetings. I mean, what??? I say that if you are not in front of a classroom full of students then your job should be seen as expendable. There is plenty of fat to trim in the budget.

Should start with getting rid of the virtual academy. Such a waste of money for a failed program that caters to a small group

Taking services away from children that need it is the last thing that should be done. We are all over the virtual argument. Just stop. It’s been funded for next year. It’s a drop in the bucket. End of story. Next.

If you're still keeping your kids locked in at home, you better start working on your back up plan. You presumably followed the board's discussion this year and know they're not likely to keep it after next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DEI teacher at our school teaches 1 class period and has 4 class periods to make presentations and attend meetings. I mean, what??? I say that if you are not in front of a classroom full of students then your job should be seen as expendable. There is plenty of fat to trim in the budget.

Should start with getting rid of the virtual academy. Such a waste of money for a failed program that caters to a small group

Taking services away from children that need it is the last thing that should be done. We are all over the virtual argument. Just stop. It’s been funded for next year. It’s a drop in the bucket. End of story. Next.

If you're still keeping your kids locked in at home, you better start working on your back up plan. You presumably followed the board's discussion this year and know they're not likely to keep it after next year.

Grow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DEI teacher at our school teaches 1 class period and has 4 class periods to make presentations and attend meetings. I mean, what??? I say that if you are not in front of a classroom full of students then your job should be seen as expendable. There is plenty of fat to trim in the budget.

Should start with getting rid of the virtual academy. Such a waste of money for a failed program that caters to a small group

Taking services away from children that need it is the last thing that should be done. We are all over the virtual argument. Just stop. It’s been funded for next year. It’s a drop in the bucket. End of story. Next.

If you're still keeping your kids locked in at home, you better start working on your back up plan. You presumably followed the board's discussion this year and know they're not likely to keep it after next year.

Grow up.

If only you'd let your kids do that. But I'm sure you're understandably worried you'll never see them again if you let them out of your sight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DEI teacher at our school teaches 1 class period and has 4 class periods to make presentations and attend meetings. I mean, what??? I say that if you are not in front of a classroom full of students then your job should be seen as expendable. There is plenty of fat to trim in the budget.

Should start with getting rid of the virtual academy. Such a waste of money for a failed program that caters to a small group

Taking services away from children that need it is the last thing that should be done. We are all over the virtual argument. Just stop. It’s been funded for next year. It’s a drop in the bucket. End of story. Next.

If you're still keeping your kids locked in at home, you better start working on your back up plan. You presumably followed the board's discussion this year and know they're not likely to keep it after next year.

Grow up.

If only you'd let your kids do that. But I'm sure you're understandably worried you'll never see them again if you let them out of your sight.

The topic of this thread is the budget. If you have an ax to grind do it somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The County Executives budget recommendation for MCPS is $55.7M less than requested.

Doesn’t even cover $25M needed for inflation, staff for new space,etc.

More cuts are coming…

https://mcpsmd.new.swagit.com/videos/300375

It still delivers more $/student. More cuts should come as enrollment declines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DEI teacher at our school teaches 1 class period and has 4 class periods to make presentations and attend meetings. I mean, what??? I say that if you are not in front of a classroom full of students then your job should be seen as expendable. There is plenty of fat to trim in the budget.

Should start with getting rid of the virtual academy. Such a waste of money for a failed program that caters to a small group

Taking services away from children that need it is the last thing that should be done. We are all over the virtual argument. Just stop. It’s been funded for next year. It’s a drop in the bucket. End of story. Next.

If you're still keeping your kids locked in at home, you better start working on your back up plan. You presumably followed the board's discussion this year and know they're not likely to keep it after next year.

Grow up.

If only you'd let your kids do that. But I'm sure you're understandably worried you'll never see them again if you let them out of your sight.

The topic of this thread is the budget. If you have an ax to grind do it somewhere else.

Right. We can get the deficit down to $51M by getting rid of VA, but where will the rest come from? How much would we save by slightly increasing employee health insurance contributions from 12% to a still small 15%?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

That is a double-edged sword. The staffing crisis, particularly special ed teachers, paras, and SLPs, is only getting worse. Many people are very unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are only staying in the job because they feel handcuffed by having good insurance. If it gets expensive and worse, I promise you more people will quit, because they already wanted to and the last reason to put up with the garbage will be gone. They also already sold this year's change from CareFirst to Cigna as a way to get the same coverage for cheaper and appear to have gotten that spectacularly wrong or had one pulled over on them by Cigna, so why should anyone trust them to know what they're doing with this?

The solution to that is to do a targeted pay raise for SPED positions, and to provide benefits to paras. It's not fiscally practical to increase benefits for everyone.

It is more complicated than you think. Physics teachers are impossible to find. Should they raise their pay and not other teachers? PE teachers are very easy to find. Should they lower their pay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

That is a double-edged sword. The staffing crisis, particularly special ed teachers, paras, and SLPs, is only getting worse. Many people are very unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are only staying in the job because they feel handcuffed by having good insurance. If it gets expensive and worse, I promise you more people will quit, because they already wanted to and the last reason to put up with the garbage will be gone. They also already sold this year's change from CareFirst to Cigna as a way to get the same coverage for cheaper and appear to have gotten that spectacularly wrong or had one pulled over on them by Cigna, so why should anyone trust them to know what they're doing with this?

The solution to that is to do a targeted pay raise for SPED positions, and to provide benefits to paras. It's not fiscally practical to increase benefits for everyone.

It is more complicated than you think. Physics teachers are impossible to find. Should they raise their pay and not other teachers? PE teachers are very easy to find. Should they lower their pay?

Yes to Physics no to lowering pay for PE. Honestly much easier to simply put caps on CO bloat than nickle and diming everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

That is a double-edged sword. The staffing crisis, particularly special ed teachers, paras, and SLPs, is only getting worse. Many people are very unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are only staying in the job because they feel handcuffed by having good insurance. If it gets expensive and worse, I promise you more people will quit, because they already wanted to and the last reason to put up with the garbage will be gone. They also already sold this year's change from CareFirst to Cigna as a way to get the same coverage for cheaper and appear to have gotten that spectacularly wrong or had one pulled over on them by Cigna, so why should anyone trust them to know what they're doing with this?

The solution to that is to do a targeted pay raise for SPED positions, and to provide benefits to paras. It's not fiscally practical to increase benefits for everyone.

It is more complicated than you think. Physics teachers are impossible to find. Should they raise their pay and not other teachers? PE teachers are very easy to find. Should they lower their pay?

We probably should have a separate pay scale for STEM positions, but the SPED shortage has legal and safety issues. It makes sense to start there and branch out into other areas based on need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

That is a double-edged sword. The staffing crisis, particularly special ed teachers, paras, and SLPs, is only getting worse. Many people are very unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are only staying in the job because they feel handcuffed by having good insurance. If it gets expensive and worse, I promise you more people will quit, because they already wanted to and the last reason to put up with the garbage will be gone. They also already sold this year's change from CareFirst to Cigna as a way to get the same coverage for cheaper and appear to have gotten that spectacularly wrong or had one pulled over on them by Cigna, so why should anyone trust them to know what they're doing with this?

The solution to that is to do a targeted pay raise for SPED positions, and to provide benefits to paras. It's not fiscally practical to increase benefits for everyone.

It is more complicated than you think. Physics teachers are impossible to find. Should they raise their pay and not other teachers? PE teachers are very easy to find. Should they lower their pay?

Yes to Physics no to lowering pay for PE. Honestly much easier to simply put caps on CO bloat than nickle and diming everyone.

Guys, they still have to work out the health insurance issue. They have to reduce costs or increase premiums. MCPS pays for 83% of premiums so employees bear a minority of cost increases, which of course is still impactful. But a yearly injection of $40 million is not going to happen long term so they need to figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

That is a double-edged sword. The staffing crisis, particularly special ed teachers, paras, and SLPs, is only getting worse. Many people are very unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are only staying in the job because they feel handcuffed by having good insurance. If it gets expensive and worse, I promise you more people will quit, because they already wanted to and the last reason to put up with the garbage will be gone. They also already sold this year's change from CareFirst to Cigna as a way to get the same coverage for cheaper and appear to have gotten that spectacularly wrong or had one pulled over on them by Cigna, so why should anyone trust them to know what they're doing with this?

The solution to that is to do a targeted pay raise for SPED positions, and to provide benefits to paras. It's not fiscally practical to increase benefits for everyone.

It is more complicated than you think. Physics teachers are impossible to find. Should they raise their pay and not other teachers? PE teachers are very easy to find. Should they lower their pay?

Yes to Physics no to lowering pay for PE. Honestly much easier to simply put caps on CO bloat than nickle and diming everyone.

Guys, they still have to work out the health insurance issue. They have to reduce costs or increase premiums. MCPS pays for 83% of premiums so employees bear a minority of cost increases, which of course is still impactful. But a yearly injection of $40 million is not going to happen long term so they need to figure it out.

There's nothing to figure out. They need to raise the employee contributions to something a little closer to other public sector jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

That is a double-edged sword. The staffing crisis, particularly special ed teachers, paras, and SLPs, is only getting worse. Many people are very unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are only staying in the job because they feel handcuffed by having good insurance. If it gets expensive and worse, I promise you more people will quit, because they already wanted to and the last reason to put up with the garbage will be gone. They also already sold this year's change from CareFirst to Cigna as a way to get the same coverage for cheaper and appear to have gotten that spectacularly wrong or had one pulled over on them by Cigna, so why should anyone trust them to know what they're doing with this?

The solution to that is to do a targeted pay raise for SPED positions, and to provide benefits to paras. It's not fiscally practical to increase benefits for everyone.

It is more complicated than you think. Physics teachers are impossible to find. Should they raise their pay and not other teachers? PE teachers are very easy to find. Should they lower their pay?

Yes to Physics no to lowering pay for PE. Honestly much easier to simply put caps on CO bloat than nickle and diming everyone.

Guys, they still have to work out the health insurance issue. They have to reduce costs or increase premiums. MCPS pays for 83% of premiums so employees bear a minority of cost increases, which of course is still impactful. But a yearly injection of $40 million is not going to happen long term so they need to figure it out.

There's nothing to figure out. They need to raise the employee contributions to something a little closer to other public sector jobs.

Increasing premiums means increasing employer and employee contributions. Demanding $40 million and threatening not to fix moldy schools of they don't get it means MCPS as a system bears the entire cost.