Any news on the public school budget for MoCo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
“Hundreds of school supporting services employees – para-educators, teachers assistants, and media assistants – have already seen their hours reduced by 25% to 33%” said Merle Cuttitta, president of SEIU Local 500, the union representing school support workers. “Leggett is taking money out of these workers’ pockets in order to build up ‘reserve funds’ to please Wall Street bankers.”

I hate when unions say things like this. The County's bond rating is critical. It was put on the chopping block last year (put on one or two watch lists, which means probable downgrade the next year) and if it gets downgraded, the County immediately has to pay much higher interest rates on bonds it has issued. If it does that, the debt service ratio increases dramatically, leaving even less money in the operating budget. To ignore reserve fund balances is penny wise and pound foolish.

Well if this is so damn important why aren't they teaching these things in school? Financial literacy should be the number one REQUIRED subject in high school. If they don't understand how these things work, and I sure as hell don't, we are definitely on the downward spiral as a country.

The union reps know "exactly" how things work. They put political spin on everything to rile up their members.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS TV
Parent Academy
Travel and entertainment budget for administrators to conferences, etc.
Even (gasp!) sports programs

ALL of these and more should be cut before they increase class sizes.

How is it that there's no mention of cutting football but they feel free to put 35 kids in an elementary school math class with no aide?

As far as I'm concerned they cut sports funding all they want. My kid (and many, many others) play club sports and we don't one red cent from the county. In fact, at our school they won't even announce club sport news during announcements because they are not MCPS sponsored activities. Screw that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd much rather see furloughs and benefits changes than cutting positions. The rest of County government has taken that hit the past few years. Why can't teachers?

I agree. I think a four day school week would work well, don't you?

They could have easily fit 5 furlough days into their school year last year without impacting the students at all. The shame in it all is that if they had sucked it up and taken furloughs, we (as a County) probably wouldn't be facing increased health benefits costs. Furloughs are good because they are a temporary cut to your salary. It doesn't impact the base and will be restored the next year. But increasing an employee's share of health benefits? That's likely forever.

OK I have the solution. Let's not start school until after Labor Day. Let's have teachers take those furlough days that week. My guess is Weast and his ilk wouldn't want to do that. Fine, let's have the furlough days occur at the end of the year. I'd be fine either way and I'd bet most parents would be, too.

[Anonymous]

We teach YOUR CHILDREN. For many kids we see them more than you. We teach them to read. We help them to be successful. We keep the "poor kids" off the streets and we get the "rich kids" into ivy league schools (yes- I'm using hyperbole). Most of my colleagues have masters or doctoral degrees and make very little compared to the private sector (no- I'm not using hyperbole).

High school science classes at my very highly regarded western MoCo school will have 35 kids in a class. Do you feel that is safe or appropriate? We won't allow kids to be in unsafe situations, so we'll just be forced to teach them less. We don't really have any other option. And all of the clubs, enrichment and extracurriculars? Gone. Many teachers need to do tutoring to make up the 10-12% take-home pay cut they will be experiencing. My mortgage company will not really care too much that some kids had less opportunities and are less prepared for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We teach YOUR CHILDREN. For many kids we see them more than you. We teach them to read. We help them to be successful. We keep the "poor kids" off the streets and we get the "rich kids" into ivy league schools (yes- I'm using hyperbole). Most of my colleagues have masters or doctoral degrees and make very little compared to the private sector (no- I'm not using hyperbole).

High school science classes at my very highly regarded western MoCo school will have 35 kids in a class. Do you feel that is safe or appropriate? We won't allow kids to be in unsafe situations, so we'll just be forced to teach them less. We don't really have any other option. And all of the clubs, enrichment and extracurriculars? Gone. Many teachers need to do tutoring to make up the 10-12% take-home pay cut they will be experiencing. My mortgage company will not really care too much that some kids had less opportunities and are less prepared for college.

Do you think it's OK if a County firefighter can't pay his/her mortgage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We teach YOUR CHILDREN. For many kids we see them more than you. We teach them to read. We help them to be successful. We keep the "poor kids" off the streets and we get the "rich kids" into ivy league schools (yes- I'm using hyperbole). Most of my colleagues have masters or doctoral degrees and make very little compared to the private sector (no- I'm not using hyperbole).

High school science classes at my very highly regarded western MoCo school will have 35 kids in a class. Do you feel that is safe or appropriate? We won't allow kids to be in unsafe situations, so we'll just be forced to teach them less. We don't really have any other option. And all of the clubs, enrichment and extracurriculars? Gone. Many teachers need to do tutoring to make up the 10-12% take-home pay cut they will be experiencing. My mortgage company will not really care too much that some kids had less opportunities and are less prepared for college.

My DS had 37 kids in 9th grade honors chemistry this year. The teacher said there were too many kids in the class to safely conduct any labs. There wasn't enough room for them all at the lab benches anyway. So if it was this bad this year, I shudder to think what will happen next year and years after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We teach YOUR CHILDREN. For many kids we see them more than you. We teach them to read. We help them to be successful. We keep the "poor kids" off the streets and we get the "rich kids" into ivy league schools (yes- I'm using hyperbole). Most of my colleagues have masters or doctoral degrees and make very little compared to the private sector (no- I'm not using hyperbole).

High school science classes at my very highly regarded western MoCo school will have 35 kids in a class. Do you feel that is safe or appropriate? We won't allow kids to be in unsafe situations, so we'll just be forced to teach them less. We don't really have any other option. And all of the clubs, enrichment and extracurriculars? Gone. Many teachers need to do tutoring to make up the 10-12% take-home pay cut they will be experiencing. My mortgage company will not really care too much that some kids had less opportunities and are less prepared for college.

My DS had 37 kids in 9th grade honors chemistry this year. The teacher said there were too many kids in the class to safely conduct any labs. There wasn't enough room for them all at the lab benches anyway. So if it was this bad this year, I shudder to think what will happen next year and years after.

What always scares me about these examples is the fact that we really do have a good school system compared to a lot of the US (and compared to lots of other parts of the world, believe it or not). Can you imagine some of the school systems in FL, AZ, parts of the US that have had a terrible economy for years? Back when I was in MCPS a lot of mothers did not work outside the home and they volunteered at school more. Also back then the class sizes were not small. However, we had zero ESOL kids and that does impact teacher workload significantly.

[Anonymous]

Teachers need to take a stronger hit. We should understand they are upset about this possibility, but it must be done. We are thankful for the teachers' dedication, but it must be done. If they want to try the private sector, so be it. We wish them the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd much rather see furloughs and benefits changes than cutting positions. The rest of County government has taken that hit the past few years. Why can't teachers?

the teachers have taken a hit. They gave up negotiated raise to avoid layoffs f class room teachers last year. They will be paying more for their benefits next yea, which works out to about a 11% decrease in take home pay, and those teachers who are ten plus years from retirement are forced to pay money into a pension system with little chance of getting back an amount equal to what they could have if allowed to invest that money on their own. And while this is goinG on, their class sizes are increasing.

They haven't taken anywhere near the same hit as all other County employees, though. That's the point. If the pain could be spread evenly, it would be MUCH less for everyone.

What county employees are you referring to? County police officers and firefighters? Are you even required to have a college degree to hold these positions? (At the county level) Montgomery County Public School teachers are required to earn masters degrees and their salaries should reflect their educational requirements.

All County employees. And salary schedules already reflect both educational requirements as well as years of experience. Throwing that out there is a total red herring.

The issue is that there is no money. 80% of County government expenditures are personnel costs. There's no way to structurally balance the budget without restructuring salaries and benefits. And when doing that, it doesn't make any sense to hold one class of employees harmless. If you do, County services elsewhere will be cut significantly. If you want the police or EMTs to take an hour to get to your house, I suppose that's a viable option. Or cut 40% of bus routes around the County regardless of how many citizens depend on them to get to their own jobs. Maybe we should release more prisoners out on the streets. That pesky prison sure does cost a mint to run. Or reduce garbage pickup to once every couple of weeks. Let it rot in the streets. Or not serve protective orders on people accused of domestic violence. Maybe not process divorces for years. Hostages at the Discovery Building again? Too bad, the special ops units are getting cut. Those brush fires in Germantown that burned up 500 acres but no houses? Let them burn. No money for firefighters this year. But the teachers' pay and benefits are safe. Is that really all that matters to you?

THe county needs to raise taxes.. 1/4% additional sales tax wouldn't make a difference in anyone's budget, and a small increase at the margin for the very wealthy would hardly be felt.

[Anonymous]

re: furlough days. It seems like teacher workdays could be turned into furlough days with very little lost. It's not like the kids are actually in school those days anyways.

I love the teachers we've had, but I have to say that teachers in our schools get way more time off on a daily basis than I do at my job. Elementary school teachers don't supervise recess. Instead, that's done by aides.

I'd love to see an independent assessment comparing our budget/teacher benefits to those in other close-by districts. There are places to trim the fat, without having to increase class sizes. But everyone's got to come to the table and be willing to compromise and put education first.

[Anonymous]

It's not like the kids are actually in school those days anyways.

Yeah, and the teachers are just sitting there doing nothing anyway.

[Anonymous]

And then during he furlough days the parents need to pay for child care or lose a day of work. Everyone loses.

The other systems that are not doing as well simply don't teach as much material. There is no way you can teach 35-37 kids the same amount you can 30 kids. When my student load goes from 150 to 175 how much time can I devote a total of less than 3 minutes per kid per day. Teaching, grading, prep, remediation, assessment, lab prep, safety, lab clean up, grading- then add in the kids with problems at home, ESOL, special needs, etc.

Advice to everyone- start scouting for good tutors NOW for next year if you expect to keep the same level of education going for your kids at the high school level. And if you want "electives" like AP studio art (or dozens of other things cut at our school alone) start looking for private lessons because those things are gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We teach YOUR CHILDREN. For many kids we see them more than you. We teach them to read. We help them to be successful. We keep the "poor kids" off the streets and we get the "rich kids" into ivy league schools (yes- I'm using hyperbole). Most of my colleagues have masters or doctoral degrees and make very little compared to the private sector (no- I'm not using hyperbole).

High school science classes at my very highly regarded western MoCo school will have 35 kids in a class. Do you feel that is safe or appropriate? We won't allow kids to be in unsafe situations, so we'll just be forced to teach them less. We don't really have any other option. And all of the clubs, enrichment and extracurriculars? Gone. Many teachers need to do tutoring to make up the 10-12% take-home pay cut they will be experiencing. My mortgage company will not really care too much that some kids had less opportunities and are less prepared for college.

Do you think it's OK if a County firefighter can't pay his/her mortgage?

. You do realiz that the Firefighters also have similar benefits as teachers, right? They can retire after 20 years regardless of age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We teach YOUR CHILDREN. For many kids we see them more than you. We teach them to read. We help them to be successful. We keep the "poor kids" off the streets and we get the "rich kids" into ivy league schools (yes- I'm using hyperbole). Most of my colleagues have masters or doctoral degrees and make very little compared to the private sector (no- I'm not using hyperbole).

High school science classes at my very highly regarded western MoCo school will have 35 kids in a class. Do you feel that is safe or appropriate? We won't allow kids to be in unsafe situations, so we'll just be forced to teach them less. We don't really have any other option. And all of the clubs, enrichment and extracurriculars? Gone. Many teachers need to do tutoring to make up the 10-12% take-home pay cut they will be experiencing. My mortgage company will not really care too much that some kids had less opportunities and are less prepared for college.

Do you think it's OK if a County firefighter can't pay his/her mortgage?

. You do realiz that the Firefighters also have similar benefits as teachers, right? They can retire after 20 years regardless of age.

My point is that I don't like the teacher union's attitude that it's ok for all other County employees to suffer as long as teachers aren't touched.

[Anonymous]

In the ideal it would be preferable to shield the teachers who are in the front line. Why doesn't the central office show some leadership and agree to furlough the most highly-paid administrators (>$100K take more days, < $100K take fewer days).

Oh, they have a union as well.

Needless to say state employees including University of MD faculty just completed their 4th year of furloughs. If there aren't furloughs this year, there will be layoffs. Plus no pay raises for 6 out of 10 years. In what world should MoCo professionals fare differently?