Budget- CE recommended budget $55.7M less

[Anonymous]

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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?

MCPS has low premiums relative to other public employees.

For example at MCPS a 12 month employee with a spouse and kids pays between $130 and $150 biweekly for a POS plan depending on whether they do the health screening thing. County government employees (which include bus drivers, firefighters, police, corrections, and social workers) pay $190 biweekly. Part of it is that county employees pay 20% of the cost and MCPS employees pay 17% (though it's actually going to be less than 17% since the premiums aren't covering the total and general dollars are being used to make up the difference).

I don't think some of you realize that money doesn't grow on trees? You can't have cheap insurance AND get the pay increases you want AND get money to pay for all the renovations you want and have the county pay for all the roads and bike lanes and everything else you want. And having premiums that don't cover claims is what creates the budget freezes that are impacting staff and students right now. This is not sustainable.

I totally agree. Folks are going to have to start picking what they want. You can’t get pay raises, low cost premiums w/ gold level health insurance and pensions plus all the other things needed to fund the system without revenue in the county.

You think teachers just “get” pensions? They pay into the pension system every single paycheck and they have no say in it. Most teachers won’t ever see a dime of it bc no one wants to stick around for the 25 years and the amount you can roll over into a 401k after leaving is laughable. Stop acting like you have any idea what you’re talking about because you clearly don’t.

Then you should advocate to get rid of the pension and switch to a 401k plan. A lot of teachers DO get the pension which is precisely why it costs so much money.

I guarantee you the majority of young teachers aren’t sticking around 25 years but are forced to pay into the system. How do you know people haven’t been advocating for this for years? It doesn’t mean we get what we fight for. Welcome to planet earth. Glad you think teachers somehow have way more power than they actually do. Delusional.

The union is not advocating to get rid of the pension (even for new teachers). GTFOOH.

[Anonymous]

Thank God I saw writing on wall and left this county 3 years ago. Kids were slated for Wootton, too.

Here I’ll save you a post:good riddance.

[Anonymous]

Btw if MCEA were to push for a new retirement system for new teachers they would have a lot of people supporting that because it would save the school system a ton of money.

I agree with you about pensions. I turned down a job offer in part because I had to wait 10 years to vedt in the pension and anytime before that I'd just get my own money back with a tiny bit of interest. I like 401k style plans. But financially, most are not better than pensions for the employee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

MCPS has low premiums relative to other public employees.

For example at MCPS a 12 month employee with a spouse and kids pays between $130 and $150 biweekly for a POS plan depending on whether they do the health screening thing. County government employees (which include bus drivers, firefighters, police, corrections, and social workers) pay $190 biweekly. Part of it is that county employees pay 20% of the cost and MCPS employees pay 17% (though it's actually going to be less than 17% since the premiums aren't covering the total and general dollars are being used to make up the difference).

I don't think some of you realize that money doesn't grow on trees? You can't have cheap insurance AND get the pay increases you want AND get money to pay for all the renovations you want and have the county pay for all the roads and bike lanes and everything else you want. And having premiums that don't cover claims is what creates the budget freezes that are impacting staff and students right now. This is not sustainable.

I totally agree. Folks are going to have to start picking what they want. You can’t get pay raises, low cost premiums w/ gold level health insurance and pensions plus all the other things needed to fund the system without revenue in the county.

You think teachers just “get” pensions? They pay into the pension system every single paycheck and they have no say in it. Most teachers won’t ever see a dime of it bc no one wants to stick around for the 25 years and the amount you can roll over into a 401k after leaving is laughable. Stop acting like you have any idea what you’re talking about because you clearly don’t.

Then you should advocate to get rid of the pension and switch to a 401k plan. A lot of teachers DO get the pension which is precisely why it costs so much money.

I guarantee you the majority of young teachers aren’t sticking around 25 years but are forced to pay into the system. How do you know people haven’t been advocating for this for years? It doesn’t mean we get what we fight for. Welcome to planet earth. Glad you think teachers somehow have way more power than they actually do. Delusional.

The union is not advocating to get rid of the pension (even for new teachers). GTFOOH.

Reagan did it for civil service. They didn't have a choice and that was 40 years ago. Maybe it's time the county gets with the times.

[Anonymous]

The pension issue is a complicated one and it is controlled by the state not the county. After 2011 the state pushed more of the pension costs to the counties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The pension issue is a complicated one and it is controlled by the state not the county. After 2011 the state pushed more of the pension costs to the counties.

The county supplements the state pension and that is at the discretion of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The pension issue is a complicated one and it is controlled by the state not the county. After 2011 the state pushed more of the pension costs to the counties.

The county got rid of pensions at least 25 years ago. They should be consistent as Mcps is part of the county. The county and MCPS cannot afford the pension system for MCPS. While its a great perk, its not realistic but there are many places MCPS can cut.

[Anonymous]

It took many years to get South Lake renovated even though staff and parents complained of rodents, extreme temperature issues. Didn't help that it was a title 1 school.

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2020/07/south-lake-elementary-school/

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Anonymous wrote:Around 1:08, Seth Adams explains that a budget plan with the most traction involves removing expenditures to renovate Wootton, Magruder, Damascus, and Eastern from the CIP altogether.

^^^The most traction in the sense that county council members preferred this bad option to the other bad option.

I feel like I must be missing something and I'm hoping someone can give me some reassurance.

A few weeks ago, I saw current Wootton parents and students give testimonials about the extent of water intrusion and mold in the building:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joW7ciWyp6g

Since then, I haven't seen or heard any dispute of the severity of these issues.

Can anyone share what steps MCPS takes to ensure students are not being exposed to environmental hazards in their facilities? Do they MCPS regularly test its facilities for mold? Does anyone have information about what the repair process is for the issues that are depicted in the students' pictures from that hearing?

https://www.cdc.gov/mold/faqs.htm

I'm shocked and kind of horrified to see these conditions and I don't see how letting them continue is on the table.

Ultiple schools are old with these issues. Send your kid with a mask.

Multiple

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pension issue is a complicated one and it is controlled by the state not the county. After 2011 the state pushed more of the pension costs to the counties.

The county got rid of pensions at least 25 years ago. They should be consistent as Mcps is part of the county. The county and MCPS cannot afford the pension system for MCPS. While its a great perk, its not realistic but there are many places MCPS can cut.

They can and should cut the county supplement and replace with a 401k style plan with a guaranteed interest rate like county employees have. I think PP is right that the state pension is more difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pension issue is a complicated one and it is controlled by the state not the county. After 2011 the state pushed more of the pension costs to the counties.

The county got rid of pensions at least 25 years ago. They should be consistent as Mcps is part of the county. The county and MCPS cannot afford the pension system for MCPS. While its a great perk, its not realistic but there are many places MCPS can cut.

They can and should cut the county supplement and replace with a 401k style plan with a guaranteed interest rate like county employees have. I think PP is right that the state pension is more difficult.

Seems reasonable and for teachers who walk after 5 years at least they get to keep what they put into it.

[Anonymous]

All you sitting here upset about teacher's benefits and pay are the problem. Central office bloat should be your focus not belittling teachers who are already miserable and ready to walk.

There isn't going to be anyone left to teach the kids unless you want high school graduates doing the job like other states are resorting to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All you sitting here upset about teacher's benefits and pay are the problem. Central office bloat should be your focus not belittling teachers who are already miserable and ready to walk.

There isn't going to be anyone left to teach the kids unless you want high school graduates doing the job like other states are resorting to.

Why not focus on both?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All you sitting here upset about teacher's benefits and pay are the problem. Central office bloat should be your focus not belittling teachers who are already miserable and ready to walk.

There isn't going to be anyone left to teach the kids unless you want high school graduates doing the job like other states are resorting to.

You don't seem to understand the extent of the problem. You could rid of half of central and still not even make up the $55.7M difference. Or even cover the $40M in excess health care costs.

You can't address the MCPS budget situation without address teacher salaries and benefits. And yes, I agree in some cases they're already a problem. That's why they need to do new things. Move to a defined controbution retirement plan, which is better for everyone. Raise premiums and increase employee share to be aligned with other public sector jobs. And rather than across the board pay increases, establish an elevated pay schedule for SPED (and perhaps STEM) positions.

[Anonymous]

Good luck with the teacher shortage.
Teaching these days sucks due to no accountability for kids and parents and no attendance rules. If you remove or weaken benefits, I imagine even less people will be attracted to teaching. Especially since teaching is 100% in person while many jobs have switched to 80-100% remote.

Last year, my kid had a terrible long term sub for the full year for physics because the school could not find a physics teacher even though they had been looking all through the summer months. It was a completely wasted year for my kid in science class. We need to figure out how to attract more teachers to the profession

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All you sitting here upset about teacher's benefits and pay are the problem. Central office bloat should be your focus not belittling teachers who are already miserable and ready to walk.

There isn't going to be anyone left to teach the kids unless you want high school graduates doing the job like other states are resorting to.

It's multiple issues, but the health insurance and pensions are a huge issue.