If You Are A Maryland Democrat Contemplating A Vote For Hogan, Read This First:

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It's funny that everyone here hates the Kerwin commission, when mccpta who represents PTA and parents are for the Kerwin commission. Hogan has cut funds to mcps time and time again (sometimes the Democratic legislature has been able to get some back). He doesn't believe in equal rights for homosexuals. He believes in less government, except when it comes to women's bodies. And remember that redistricting happens in 2020.

I'm hoping people will come to their senses, Hogan is not good for Maryland. Hogan is good for wealthy white men. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

+1 I don't understand the Hogan love. Maryland has dropped dramatically in the school rankings during his tenure as Governor, and he hasn't done much to make Maryland more business friendly as you would expect a Republican to do. Add those factors with his complicit nature on the worst of Trump's policies (the Muslim ban), and he does not get my vote.

Maryland has dropped - due to MoCo's drop - which is largely because it is now a large urban school district with the accompanying problems. MoCo was @ 12% Hispanic when our kid enrolled in K- now the school system is 37% Hispanic and growing. Many 9fo those kids are not accounted for prior to start of school, which makes it hard to forecast class sizes. We just have to recognize that MoCo will be like LA in ten years time. If you want the burbs, it's Howard or Frederick County for you - not MoCo.

Are you trying to make the argument that Hogan supporters are racist jerks? You’re doing a great job. As for forecasting class sizes, as much as you may want to blame that on Hispanics, there’s an article in today’s Washington post that attributes more blame to the poor forecasting capabilities of MCPS and their clinging to the belief that families don’t live in apartment buildings, while constructing lots more apartment buildings in areas with desirable yet overcrowded schools.

Hey - can someone getting the smelling salts? I think this poster is about to faint.

The poster above simply pointed out that rankings measure a state's wealth and whiteness more than educational quality. So if Maryland is getting more diverse quicker than the rest of the country, it's rankings based on meaningless education rankings will get relatively worse.

Wrong. Please point me to a ranking system that reduces points based on the percentage of Hispanic students. [Hint, you won't find it.]

The ranking systems are based on test scores, AP participation, graduation rates, etc. in other words, the things I recall liberals lecturing us are all race-based.

Why don’t you look up “correlation is not causation” and tell us all what you’ve learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:It's funny that everyone here hates the Kerwin commission, when mccpta who represents PTA and parents are for the Kerwin commission. Hogan has cut funds to mcps time and time again (sometimes the Democratic legislature has been able to get some back). He doesn't believe in equal rights for homosexuals. He believes in less government, except when it comes to women's bodies. And remember that redistricting happens in 2020.

I'm hoping people will come to their senses, Hogan is not good for Maryland. Hogan is good for wealthy white men. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

+1 I don't understand the Hogan love. Maryland has dropped dramatically in the school rankings during his tenure as Governor, and he hasn't done much to make Maryland more business friendly as you would expect a Republican to do. Add those factors with his complicit nature on the worst of Trump's policies (the Muslim ban), and he does not get my vote.

Maryland has dropped - due to MoCo's drop - which is largely because it is now a large urban school district with the accompanying problems. MoCo was @ 12% Hispanic when our kid enrolled in K- now the school system is 37% Hispanic and growing. Many 9fo those kids are not accounted for prior to start of school, which makes it hard to forecast class sizes. We just have to recognize that MoCo will be like LA in ten years time. If you want the burbs, it's Howard or Frederick County for you - not MoCo.

Are you trying to make the argument that Hogan supporters are racist jerks? You’re doing a great job. As for forecasting class sizes, as much as you may want to blame that on Hispanics, there’s an article in today’s Washington post that attributes more blame to the poor forecasting capabilities of MCPS and their clinging to the belief that families don’t live in apartment buildings, while constructing lots more apartment buildings in areas with desirable yet overcrowded schools.

Hey - can someone getting the smelling salts? I think this poster is about to faint.

The poster above simply pointed out that rankings measure a state's wealth and whiteness more than educational quality. So if Maryland is getting more diverse quicker than the rest of the country, it's rankings based on meaningless education rankings will get relatively worse.

Wrong. Please point me to a ranking system that reduces points based on the percentage of Hispanic students. [Hint, you won't find it.]

The ranking systems are based on test scores, AP participation, graduation rates, etc. in other words, the things I recall liberals lecturing us are all race-based.

Why don’t you look up “correlation is not causation” and tell us all what you’ve learned.

I would give you the same advice.

[Anonymous]

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MCPS can't even manage the students and classrooms is currently has. No room for current K-12 students. Over crowded classrooms, limited space and understaffed schools. First let them prove that they can appropriately manage the students it is already supposed to serve. Then, we can consider expanding it to more students.

They are not going to create new pre-K in already overcrowded schools. They are going to make current pre-K programs part of the MCPS pre-k.

[Anonymous]

Looks like Ben Jealous is ready to tax MoCo’s wealthiest and then ship our tax dollars out of the county. Yay! But let’s vote for him because he’s liberal, even though our own children need the education funds and we need the money. https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/politics/opinion-what-jealouss-plan-to-tax-the-1-percent-means-for-moco/

[Anonymous]

Directly from the article, “Most Democrats (and many others) agree with the concept of progressive taxation. If you earn more, you should pay more. But as MoCo residents, we should consider this: Our county is heavily dependent on high earners for local revenue. Take away the county’s seven wealthiest zip codes and the rest of MoCo’s mean household income is about average for the D.C. region. Last year, when 50 of the county’s wealthiest taxpayers deferred capital gains income to take advantage of the federal tax cut, the county’s budget lost tens of millions of dollars. The county’s needs, especially in education and transportation, are gigantic and taxing the wealthy is one of its most important strategies for paying the bills.

So what happens if Jealous pushes through a big tax hike on top earners? Maryland and Virginia both have top income tax rates of 5.75 percent, but MoCo adds 3.2 percent to that. [/b]If this difference grows even more, that creates an incentive to relocate. MoCo already loses tens of millions of dollars a year in taxpayer flight to Virginia and even more to Florida, which has no income tax[b]. And MoCo was targeted by another state income tax hike as recently as 2012, paying 41 percent of that increase.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I don't particularly have a problem with raising taxes if the money is going to have some demonstrable benefit. It seems like providing additional money to kids in impoverished schools is not a bad use of funds. My family just moved to MoCo and we typically vote democrat, but we're noticing a lot of people are pro-Hogan and I was curious why so many people in this progressive county would be willing to vote for a Republican. My mind is open.

DC schools receive the highest per capita student funding in the country. Outside of the high SES NW neighborhoods, where are the positive outcomes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I don't particularly have a problem with raising taxes if the money is going to have some demonstrable benefit. It seems like providing additional money to kids in impoverished schools is not a bad use of funds. My family just moved to MoCo and we typically vote democrat, but we're noticing a lot of people are pro-Hogan and I was curious why so many people in this progressive county would be willing to vote for a Republican. My mind is open.

[b]Are you in the top 1% of earners? If you are not, then your opinion doesn’t really count because you are not paying for the tax increase. How does one say you don’t mind the tax increase but then the tax increase isn’t applicable to you?[b]

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Democrat and 100% voting for Hogan. I thought his answers were good. He is a Republican after all, he doesn't have to rebuke the President as strongly as we wished he would. He has to focus on MD which I think he has done and will continue to do.

I would vote for him if he ran for President.

+1. Thank you for putting it so well.

+1

Voted for Hillary and normally lean Democratic but will absolutely be voting for Hogan. Definitely NOT interested in someone like Jealous.

Agree about the Kirwan commission. And, universal pre-K was a major reason why I voted AGAINST Brown in the last election.

MCPS can't even manage the students and classrooms is currently has. No room for current K-12 students. Over crowded classrooms, limited space and understaffed schools. First let them prove that they can appropriately manage the students it is already supposed to serve. Then, we can consider expanding it to more students.

This is my feelings as well. Education money should go to K to 12 as a first priority. Currently, we need to focus all efforts there.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

MCPS can't even manage the students and classrooms is currently has. No room for current K-12 students. Over crowded classrooms, limited space and understaffed schools. First let them prove that they can appropriately manage the students it is already supposed to serve. Then, we can consider expanding it to more students.

They are not going to create new pre-K in already overcrowded schools. They are going to make current pre-K programs part of the MCPS pre-k.

Even the current preK programs in MCPS are overcrowded. My good friend is a teacher at one, and it's at its limit. Add in ALL 4 year olds, and it is not going to work.

Plus, with MCPS' history of supporting sexual predators, I would think parents would want that addressed first and foremost before allowing even younger kids to be potential victims.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Can people please explain why the Kirwan Commission would be so awful? I skimmed the "essential" goals and they all seem pretty positive - like universal pre-k for 4 year olds.

You need to skim better. I am taking just these talking points from this summary by ACY (Advocates for Child and Youth) which is pro-Kirwin report (underlining is my "highlighting"):
https://www.acy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ACY-Kirwan-Commission-Info-Sheet-Version-2.pdf

WHAT’S AT STAKE? This Commission and the resulting legislation will
determine the formula for school funding across Maryland for the next
decade and more! Our schools have not received the funds they
require to give our children the education and resources they need
and deserve. Now is our chance to ensure that we don’t repeat the
past – more funding now!

Barring the state increasing education funding beyond the minimum mandated levels (which the governor and legislature have not done in the last 10 years), this means increasing education taxes. So your taxes are going to go up to fund the Kirwan commission goals.

WHAT DO WE NEED? The Commission has a lot to consider, but
ACY would like to see the following issues addressed in the
Commission’s recommendations. INCREASED BASE AND WEIGHTS
The Commission must increase its base amount of funding per pupil
and the weights for special populations must remain high enough
to address the additional resources and services needed to
educate students in Maryland schools. UNIVERSAL PRE-K There
must be funding to provide access to high quality, childhood
programing/prekindergarten for 4 year olds and (low income) 3
year olds. POVERTY PROXY The Commission must adopt an efficient
and effective way to count low-income students, such as direct
certification with a multiplier, in order to properly direct funding
and resources to the schools with greater need. Any additional
form is burdensome and counter-productive. MULTIPLICATIVE
WEALTH CALCULATION The multiplicative wealth measure will
provide a more accurate reflection of a jurisdictions ability to pay,
it results in state and local contribution targets that ensure all
students receive the same funding across the state. ADDRESS
CONCENTRATED POVERTY The Commission recommendations must
include resources to combat the negative impacts of poverty on
school communities, which could be in the form of an additional
weight or an escalator that provides additional funding for schools
at a certain threshold of poverty.

These sections are the Robin Hood clauses. They say that counties education taxes will be based upon a jurisdictions "ability to pay." So, MoCo being the wealthiest county in the state will have a multiplier on their education taxes and will be paying a much higher rate per capita towards education taxes that poorer jurisdictions. Additionally, the distribution of state-wide education funds will be based on need with poverty and special needs being extremely high multiplying factors. So more funds will go to poorer school districts and more funds will go to higher FARMS rate schools. So the wealthier counties and wealthier individuals/families in the state will be paying proportionally much higher education taxes and will receive less benefit as those funds are channeled to the poorer school districts and value added for lower income and URM communities.

How is this different than the current system that's already in place where the state redistributes based on need? I hear all this talk about Jealous' funding formulas but I don't see anywhere what they are or how they differ from the existing system.

In addition, Jealous's plan is to fund some of these goals through marijuana and casino taxes. You didn't mention that, only implying that the spend comes from individual taxes.

I have an open mind but I don't see anyone addressing the real details.

[Anonymous]

The current county tax rates are ridiculously, absurdly low. They need to match the state rates, at a minimum. That's the only way the county will get the revenue it needs to make a truly transformational change in the programs it offers to low income and other underserved people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The current county tax rates are ridiculously, absurdly low. They need to match the state rates, at a minimum. That's the only way the county will get the revenue it needs to make a truly transformational change in the programs it offers to low income and other underserved people.

Oh, great. We’ll be like NY / NJ before you know it.

[Anonymous]

Hogan decided against investigating Dr ford’s allegations against kavanaugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The current county tax rates are ridiculously, absurdly low. They need to match the state rates, at a minimum. That's the only way the county will get the revenue it needs to make a truly transformational change in the programs it offers to low income and other underserved people.

What are you rattling on about? The state plus county rate in Montgomery County gives us the distinct honor of being a very high tax jurisdiction (similar to or greater than DC, depending on income). Most counties don't have special income tax rates! And this is on top of property taxes, liquor taxes, etc. that the county brings in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hogan decided against investigating Dr ford’s allegations against kavanaugh.

Blatant falsehood. He said Maryland State Police would not investigate as it is a county matter. You should really be ashamed of yourself for spreading false info.

- A registered Dem