Support the Montgomery Virtual Academy (MVA) from Budget Cuts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Priority needs to be to keep teachers in-person at school. If you want virtual school for your kid, then go private.

You are fooled by MCPS if you think they will have money to keep the teachers after shutting down programs.

Here is what MCEA has shared earlier -

“ payments for contractual services have ballooned by 42% to $100 million in the proposed FY25 budget. These services should be reduced significantly before any cuts to the classroom can be seriously considered. Examples include:

1. $4.5 million in building rental fees (including new executive offices)
2. $1,031,000 in consultant fees (not comprehensive)
3. $850,000 in recycling fees paid to Montgomery County (why doesn't the county just take care of recycling?)
4. $809,717 in outside attorney fees (MCPS has a substantial in-house legal
team.)
5. $525,000 for "random requests that come up and funding is needed"
6. Plus, an additional $13 million in unspecified contractual sevices that MCPS still has not explained”

They didn’t review any of the above but as you may already know teachers will get involuntarily transferred - decisions will be made as of today and process done by end of the week.

It’s obviously BOE/MCPS management problem!!

Plus, please review the actual budget breakdown. Under Other Contractual Services, there are other instructional costs, all miscellaneous but requesting an almost double, 100% increase of 10M totaling over 21M. Is this more questionable than going after this group?

Entrepreneurial ACTIVITIES funds also got similar increase from 6M previous year to totaling over 11M this upcoming year. Is it mandatory and should the “activities” fund taking priority over education for our kids and over the already short staff teachers?

How would putting those MVA kids to private help the disaster happening right now? All families with kids in MCPS are suffering! So are the teachers!!

I agree that the MVA is the first of many cuts the county should be making to the MCPS budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Priority needs to be to keep teachers in-person at school. If you want virtual school for your kid, then go private.

You are fooled by MCPS if you think they will have money to keep the teachers after shutting down programs.

Here is what MCEA has shared earlier -

“ payments for contractual services have ballooned by 42% to $100 million in the proposed FY25 budget. These services should be reduced significantly before any cuts to the classroom can be seriously considered. Examples include:

1. $4.5 million in building rental fees (including new executive offices)
2. $1,031,000 in consultant fees (not comprehensive)
3. $850,000 in recycling fees paid to Montgomery County (why doesn't the county just take care of recycling?)
4. $809,717 in outside attorney fees (MCPS has a substantial in-house legal
team.)
5. $525,000 for "random requests that come up and funding is needed"
6. Plus, an additional $13 million in unspecified contractual sevices that MCPS still has not explained”

They didn’t review any of the above but as you may already know teachers will get involuntarily transferred - decisions will be made as of today and process done by end of the week.

It’s obviously BOE/MCPS management problem!!

Plus, please review the actual budget breakdown. Under Other Contractual Services, there are other instructional costs, all miscellaneous but requesting an almost double, 100% increase of 10M totaling over 21M. Is this more questionable than going after this group?

Entrepreneurial ACTIVITIES funds also got similar increase from 6M previous year to totaling over 11M this upcoming year. Is it mandatory and should the “activities” fund taking priority over education for our kids and over the already short staff teachers?

How would putting those MVA kids to private help the disaster happening right now? All families with kids in MCPS are suffering! So are the teachers!!

I agree that the MVA is the first of many cuts the county should be making to the MCPS budget.

Why? ever consider the impact on the kids? Kids needs should come first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah, I’m more concerned with pre K expansion, CollegeTracks, and, good Lord, enduring kids at economically disadvantaged schools get repair for their instruments.

And don’t @ me for MVA support. Good on you that you want to homeschool. But that is not the goal of public school education.

Goal? Where is there a goal for free public education? Cite your source. Really. Cite your source for that statement.

What are you asking? Of course the goal is free public education. You want to homeschool your child, have at it. MCPS needs to focus on the kids who are IN school AT school. Not the privileged few who have a parent or guardian at home with them while they’re on MVA.

As a taxpayer, I’m appalled at cuts in teachers, pre K expansion, college counseling for first gen students, and musical repair for poor kids. If we were flush with funds then sure, fund the MVA. But if cuts have to be made, the MVA is not a priority.

Exactly.

A lot of the complaints from the MVA crowd are about past spending. And sometimes they have a point. But we need to cut future spending, and cutting MVA is one of the best ways to do that without affecting a large number of students.

Students at the MVA cost far less than in person, so the best place to cut would be in person expenses. You are impacting a large number of students. How about we just shut down 2-3 in person schools? That will 100% fix the budget issue. Lets start with your kids schools.

[Anonymous]

It's funny, as the MVA gets the fewest complaints and in person get the highest complaints. Lets shut down the schools with the highest complaints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, as the MVA gets the fewest complaints and in person get the highest complaints. Lets shut down the schools with the highest complaints.

Posts like this are why the petition isn't getting a lot of traction among non-MVA folks. The proponents just seem so genuinely unlikeable and unkind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, as the MVA gets the fewest complaints and in person get the highest complaints. Lets shut down the schools with the highest complaints.

Posts like this are why the petition isn't getting a lot of traction among non-MVA folks. The proponents just seem so genuinely unlikeable and unkind.

No, folks saying shut it down are unkind as they are more focused on their wants than students needs and they have no ability to put others needs ahead of their wants. The MVA is working for the students in the MVA. You think it's fair to force kids who were bulled to go back to the school they were bullied at to get bullied again since MCPS and parents don't care if the bullies are horrible to other kids? As a parent would you send your child to a school where they are relentlessly bullied every day. Not all parents can afford to pull their kids out of MCPS and go private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, as the MVA gets the fewest complaints and in person get the highest complaints. Lets shut down the schools with the highest complaints.

Posts like this are why the petition isn't getting a lot of traction among non-MVA folks. The proponents just seem so genuinely unlikeable and unkind.

No, folks saying shut it down are unkind as they are more focused on their wants than students needs and they have no ability to put others needs ahead of their wants. The MVA is working for the students in the MVA. You think it's fair to force kids who were bulled to go back to the school they were bullied at to get bullied again since MCPS and parents don't care if the bullies are horrible to other kids? As a parent would you send your child to a school where they are relentlessly bullied every day. Not all parents can afford to pull their kids out of MCPS and go private.

MCPS said they would prioritize COSAs for MVA kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah, I’m more concerned with pre K expansion, CollegeTracks, and, good Lord, enduring kids at economically disadvantaged schools get repair for their instruments.

And don’t @ me for MVA support. Good on you that you want to homeschool. But that is not the goal of public school education.

Goal? Where is there a goal for free public education? Cite your source. Really. Cite your source for that statement.

What are you asking? Of course the goal is free public education. You want to homeschool your child, have at it. MCPS needs to focus on the kids who are IN school AT school. Not the privileged few who have a parent or guardian at home with them while they’re on MVA.

As a taxpayer, I’m appalled at cuts in teachers, pre K expansion, college counseling for first gen students, and musical repair for poor kids. If we were flush with funds then sure, fund the MVA. But if cuts have to be made, the MVA is not a priority.

Exactly.

A lot of the complaints from the MVA crowd are about past spending. And sometimes they have a point. But we need to cut future spending, and cutting MVA is one of the best ways to do that without affecting a large number of students.

Students at the MVA cost far less than in person, so the best place to cut would be in person expenses. You are impacting a large number of students. How about we just shut down 2-3 in person schools? That will 100% fix the budget issue. Lets start with your kids schools.

Teachers get paid the same with less students? Costs nothing to reabsorb a couple of kids in each of their home schools since class sizes are growing anyways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, as the MVA gets the fewest complaints and in person get the highest complaints. Lets shut down the schools with the highest complaints.

Posts like this are why the petition isn't getting a lot of traction among non-MVA folks. The proponents just seem so genuinely unlikeable and unkind.

No, folks saying shut it down are unkind as they are more focused on their wants than students needs and they have no ability to put others needs ahead of their wants. The MVA is working for the students in the MVA. You think it's fair to force kids who were bulled to go back to the school they were bullied at to get bullied again since MCPS and parents don't care if the bullies are horrible to other kids? As a parent would you send your child to a school where they are relentlessly bullied every day. Not all parents can afford to pull their kids out of MCPS and go private.

Actually, all available data says that the MVA isn’t working for kids and is doing a significantly worse job teaching kids than in-person schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah, I’m more concerned with pre K expansion, CollegeTracks, and, good Lord, enduring kids at economically disadvantaged schools get repair for their instruments.

And don’t @ me for MVA support. Good on you that you want to homeschool. But that is not the goal of public school education.

Goal? Where is there a goal for free public education? Cite your source. Really. Cite your source for that statement.

What are you asking? Of course the goal is free public education. You want to homeschool your child, have at it. MCPS needs to focus on the kids who are IN school AT school. Not the privileged few who have a parent or guardian at home with them while they’re on MVA.

As a taxpayer, I’m appalled at cuts in teachers, pre K expansion, college counseling for first gen students, and musical repair for poor kids. If we were flush with funds then sure, fund the MVA. But if cuts have to be made, the MVA is not a priority.

Exactly.

A lot of the complaints from the MVA crowd are about past spending. And sometimes they have a point. But we need to cut future spending, and cutting MVA is one of the best ways to do that without affecting a large number of students.

Students at the MVA cost far less than in person, so the best place to cut would be in person expenses. You are impacting a large number of students. How about we just shut down 2-3 in person schools? That will 100% fix the budget issue. Lets start with your kids schools.

Please be sure to make this argument in your public testimony to the BOE about why the MVA should be funded again. I’m sure it will make a big impact when people hear your idea to shut down normal schools so that the mva program can stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nah, I’m more concerned with pre K expansion, CollegeTracks, and, good Lord, enduring kids at economically disadvantaged schools get repair for their instruments.

And don’t @ me for MVA support. Good on you that you want to homeschool. But that is not the goal of public school education.

Goal? Where is there a goal for free public education? Cite your source. Really. Cite your source for that statement.

What are you asking? Of course the goal is free public education. You want to homeschool your child, have at it. MCPS needs to focus on the kids who are IN school AT school. Not the privileged few who have a parent or guardian at home with them while they’re on MVA.

As a taxpayer, I’m appalled at cuts in teachers, pre K expansion, college counseling for first gen students, and musical repair for poor kids. If we were flush with funds then sure, fund the MVA. But if cuts have to be made, the MVA is not a priority.

Exactly.

A lot of the complaints from the MVA crowd are about past spending. And sometimes they have a point. But we need to cut future spending, and cutting MVA is one of the best ways to do that without affecting a large number of students.

Students at the MVA cost far less than in person, so the best place to cut would be in person expenses. You are impacting a large number of students. How about we just shut down 2-3 in person schools? That will 100% fix the budget issue. Lets start with your kids schools.

Exactly- shut down the low performing schools and transfer those kids to the MVA since those teachers are superior. Maybe those kids would do better in their home environment anyway? Many of the MVA class sizes are artificially small so adding the kids from the shutdown schools will get them up on par with regular classrooms and there will be more justification for keeping the MVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, as the MVA gets the fewest complaints and in person get the highest complaints. Lets shut down the schools with the highest complaints.

Posts like this are why the petition isn't getting a lot of traction among non-MVA folks. The proponents just seem so genuinely unlikeable and unkind.

No, folks saying shut it down are unkind as they are more focused on their wants than students needs and they have no ability to put others needs ahead of their wants. The MVA is working for the students in the MVA. You think it's fair to force kids who were bulled to go back to the school they were bullied at to get bullied again since MCPS and parents don't care if the bullies are horrible to other kids? As a parent would you send your child to a school where they are relentlessly bullied every day. Not all parents can afford to pull their kids out of MCPS and go private.

So homeschool or move somewhere else with a permanent virtual program. The only reason you got this virtual MCPS experiment to begin with was because of the pandemic. You need to step up as a parent and figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, as the MVA gets the fewest complaints and in person get the highest complaints. Lets shut down the schools with the highest complaints.

Posts like this are why the petition isn't getting a lot of traction among non-MVA folks. The proponents just seem so genuinely unlikeable and unkind.

No, folks saying shut it down are unkind as they are more focused on their wants than students needs and they have no ability to put others needs ahead of their wants. The MVA is working for the students in the MVA. You think it's fair to force kids who were bulled to go back to the school they were bullied at to get bullied again since MCPS and parents don't care if the bullies are horrible to other kids? As a parent would you send your child to a school where they are relentlessly bullied every day. Not all parents can afford to pull their kids out of MCPS and go private.

MCPS said they would prioritize COSAs for MVA kids

That means nothing and with a COSA parents have to provide transportation. Several students requested them already and were denied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny, as the MVA gets the fewest complaints and in person get the highest complaints. Lets shut down the schools with the highest complaints.

Posts like this are why the petition isn't getting a lot of traction among non-MVA folks. The proponents just seem so genuinely unlikeable and unkind.

No, folks saying shut it down are unkind as they are more focused on their wants than students needs and they have no ability to put others needs ahead of their wants. The MVA is working for the students in the MVA. You think it's fair to force kids who were bulled to go back to the school they were bullied at to get bullied again since MCPS and parents don't care if the bullies are horrible to other kids? As a parent would you send your child to a school where they are relentlessly bullied every day. Not all parents can afford to pull their kids out of MCPS and go private.

So homeschool or move somewhere else with a permanent virtual program. The only reason you got this virtual MCPS experiment to begin with was because of the pandemic. You need to step up as a parent and figure it out.

As a parent, we did step up and figure it out. We figured it out years ago. Why couldn't you step up during virtual as a parent so your child could have been as successful as ours our virtually?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Entrepreneurial ACTIVITIES funds also got similar increase from 6M previous year to totaling over 11M this upcoming year. Is it mandatory and should the “activities” fund taking priority over education for our kids and over the already short staff teachers?

Look up what "entrepreneurial activities" includes and report back. You lose credibility every time you run your mouth about things you haven't bothered to understand.

Out of handful of the items listed, you chose the one to defend BOE. Your intention is obvious you are against the 3 letters different from the vast majority “BOE”. Totally understand.

BUT stop making assumptions of what you think people think or what others know. You are so blindfolded.

I m not saying anywhere to eliminate that as whole. Most contractual services costs remain the same and keep it at the same level would be reasonable. However, ~100% budget increase and await for the money to come back during this time?

In other words, I would not chip in $1000 into investment/lottery or gambling hoping for the best while my families are suffering. The county is short of money!!!

That's not what "entrepreneurial activities" means, either. Read it again.