MCPS is an unmanageable behemoth - It's time to break the wheel

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get the frustration with McPS. But I also feel like a lot of these comments about the county having different needs are just veiled class resentments. Basically — east county is poor and has lots of immigrants so their needs are different (greater) than west county. In states that have those small school districts there is a lot of disparity between school districts and more de facto segregation in schools. I mean, look at Newton versus Boston. I think a lot of the “McPS is too big” sentiment is really just “we should ditch the low income areas of MoCo” sentiment.

The Newton vs. Boston comparison highlights how crazy our current setup is. Newton is the equivalent of Bethesda. But it is not governed by the city of Boston or by the county (Middlesex, population around 1.7m.) Middlesex County MA has 68 public HS but they are all managed by localities. Newton has 2 public HS and they're both excellent; so are most of the surrounding school systems, even in less wealthy areas. MCPS is trying to manage education for more than 1m residents. Ultimately it does a lousy job because it's just too many people and too widely dispersed geographically. BREAK IT UP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get the frustration with McPS. But I also feel like a lot of these comments about the county having different needs are just veiled class resentments. Basically — east county is poor and has lots of immigrants so their needs are different (greater) than west county. In states that have those small school districts there is a lot of disparity between school districts and more de facto segregation in schools. I mean, look at Newton versus Boston. I think a lot of the “McPS is too big” sentiment is really just “we should ditch the low income areas of MoCo” sentiment.

The Newton vs. Boston comparison highlights how crazy our current setup is. Newton is the equivalent of Bethesda. But it is not governed by the city of Boston or by the county (Middlesex, population around 1.7m.) Middlesex County MA has 68 public HS but they are all managed by localities. Newton has 2 public HS and they're both excellent; so are most of the surrounding school systems, even in less wealthy areas. MCPS is trying to manage education for more than 1m residents. Ultimately it does a lousy job because it's just too many people and too widely dispersed geographically. BREAK IT UP!

There aren’t one million students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get the frustration with McPS. But I also feel like a lot of these comments about the county having different needs are just veiled class resentments. Basically — east county is poor and has lots of immigrants so their needs are different (greater) than west county. In states that have those small school districts there is a lot of disparity between school districts and more de facto segregation in schools. I mean, look at Newton versus Boston. I think a lot of the “McPS is too big” sentiment is really just “we should ditch the low income areas of MoCo” sentiment.

The Newton vs. Boston comparison highlights how crazy our current setup is. Newton is the equivalent of Bethesda. But it is not governed by the city of Boston or by the county (Middlesex, population around 1.7m.) Middlesex County MA has 68 public HS but they are all managed by localities. Newton has 2 public HS and they're both excellent; so are most of the surrounding school systems, even in less wealthy areas. MCPS is trying to manage education for more than 1m residents. Ultimately it does a lousy job because it's just too many people and too widely dispersed geographically. BREAK IT UP!

There aren’t one million students.

No one said that there are 1m students in MCPS. The point is that trying to manage a school system for 1.1m residents spread over 500 square miles is not efficient or effective. MA recognizes that which is why schools there are run by town/cities rather than counties.

I'm a raging liberal and it's the first time ever I'll cite AEI, but here goes: https://www.aei.org/op-eds/not-local-enough-the-montgomery-county-public-schools-case/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get the frustration with McPS. But I also feel like a lot of these comments about the county having different needs are just veiled class resentments. Basically — east county is poor and has lots of immigrants so their needs are different (greater) than west county. In states that have those small school districts there is a lot of disparity between school districts and more de facto segregation in schools. I mean, look at Newton versus Boston. I think a lot of the “McPS is too big” sentiment is really just “we should ditch the low income areas of MoCo” sentiment.

The Newton vs. Boston comparison highlights how crazy our current setup is. Newton is the equivalent of Bethesda. But it is not governed by the city of Boston or by the county (Middlesex, population around 1.7m.) Middlesex County MA has 68 public HS but they are all managed by localities. Newton has 2 public HS and they're both excellent; so are most of the surrounding school systems, even in less wealthy areas. MCPS is trying to manage education for more than 1m residents. Ultimately it does a lousy job because it's just too many people and too widely dispersed geographically. BREAK IT UP!

The state will never allow it.

[Anonymous]

Wet dream of Bethesda and Potomac, not a great idea for everybody else. Sure a couple of pulled up by the boot strap gems would emerge but the fiscal gap would be crushing. Blair’s & Easterns magnets would never be possible for example, the kids nd funding would disappear overnight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would support that. MCPS is just some behemoth Central Office with a billion dollar budget and no accountability. And it doesn't manage its huge portfolio of schools well.

Split up the district, and we don't need to have snow days when there's an inch that falls 2 hours away out east in the county. And maybe we could have graduations without driving to Baltimore.

As the experience of states like NJ and NY shows, this model increases the administrative costs even more.

[Anonymous]

Which venue in Bethesda do folks want for graduation?

[Anonymous]

Yes, let's return to Jim Crow!!!
- someone who grew up in TX

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While there are times I wish Silver Spring was incorporated and more in control of its destiny like a normal city, I think splitting the school district is a bad idea. Think of moco as a city of a million. A small los Angeles. It's economic diversity is a superpower, even if most of y'all think poor people have cooties.

But the difference between a lot of small cities and MoCo is that there are charter options and lottery options for various schools. MoCo has...limited options and will have increasingly limited high quality options post-Regional model.

A small city would also have better public transportation options so the logistics of transportation to various options is easier.

I'm all for moco having those things. Although charter schools are complicated. We used them, I'm.not opposed... But I think they create just as much opportunity for grift and waste and poor outcomes. Sometimes more. Just look at the endless churn of new charters in DC.

I would support smaller, interest-based schools. I think massive high schools and middle schools are hard to manage. In that sense, these academy ideas moco has aren't bad. But they need classes that meet every student where they're at, and the flexibility to do more. Long before it had charter schools, Philadelphia had magnet schools and art schools and experiential learning schools. Most of them are still around and still successful.

We are out of the game, but I'm sad that the part of our experience with MCPS that was positive--the DCC--is going away, and being replaced with something this poorly organized and stratified.

[Anonymous]

I don't mind school district to allot more tax money to poor/resource-scarce schools. I don't mind increasing my property tax slightly every year to enhance the education quality. I DO MIND corruption and waste of my tax money on crappy things like regional model and building new schools when the enrollment is declining. In this sense, smaller size is much easier and transparent to manage than a MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't mind school district to allot more tax money to poor/resource-scarce schools. I don't mind increasing my property tax slightly every year to enhance the education quality. I DO MIND corruption and waste of my tax money on crappy things like regional model and building new schools when the enrollment is declining. In this sense, smaller size is much easier and transparent to manage than a MCPS.

This exactly. Mcps is going to need to do some serious soul searching and major cuts as tax payer revenue starts to dry up and enrollment increasingly declines. Smaller is better here per MA, NJ, NY outcome examples and all the naysaying of this thread thinking that the desire to shrink the size is in an effort to hoard funds for the wealthier areas have it wrong. Breaking up the county has nothing to do with trying to pull funds from poorer areas - the split can be north / south.

Anyway, be creative folks! If we're going to redraw the lines and add in this regional model, why not also change the management structure at the top?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't mind school district to allot more tax money to poor/resource-scarce schools. I don't mind increasing my property tax slightly every year to enhance the education quality. I DO MIND corruption and waste of my tax money on crappy things like regional model and building new schools when the enrollment is declining. In this sense, smaller size is much easier and transparent to manage than a MCPS.

This exactly. Mcps is going to need to do some serious soul searching and major cuts as tax payer revenue starts to dry up and enrollment increasingly declines. Smaller is better here per MA, NJ, NY outcome examples and all the naysaying of this thread thinking that the desire to shrink the size is in an effort to hoard funds for the wealthier areas have it wrong. Breaking up the county has nothing to do with trying to pull funds from poorer areas - the split can be north / south.

Anyway, be creative folks! If we're going to redraw the lines and add in this regional model, why not also change the management structure at the top?!

Because this is Maryland, and the state doesn't allow such changes.