Some perspective on those blaming Hogan for lack of education funding

[Anonymous]

I have read a ridiculous amount of posts this year about how Hogan doesn't give MCPS enough money for their yearly proposed budgets.

First off, he has always increased the amount he gives each year, never decreased. He just doesn't give as much as MCPS says he should, so the wording of decreased always comes into play.

Second, the state is only responsible for 22% of the entire budget. The county is responsible for 67% of the budget. Why doesn't the board make a stink to the county about funds?

MCPS Funding Sources

Montgomery County: 67%
State education aid: 23.2%
Federal govt. grants: 5.7%
Enterprise funds: 2.6%
Fees, other sources: 1.2 %
Special revenue fund: 0.1%


Third, Hogan has not increased tolls or taxes.

Fourth, Montgomery County is once again looking to raise taxes. Their budget is an F'ing mess. A sh*t show.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/compensation-costs-report-paints-dark-picture-for-countys-future-economic-prospects/


So please do your homework and not be the liberal that just points finger at the Republican in the governors's office. Look in your own backyard at the Dems who have no clue how to balance a budget. Ask them why aren't they giving education more money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Second, the state is only responsible for 22% of the entire budget. The county is responsible for 67% of the budget. Why doesn't the board make a stink to the county about funds?

It does. Every year. I guess you haven't been paying attention?

[Anonymous]

How about you read: It does not say they are going to raise taxes, it says it might be necessary. So who is making assumptions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about you read: It does not say they are going to raise taxes, it says it might be necessary. So who is making assumptions?

Did you look at the budget? There is no way to survive without raising taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
First off, he has always increased the amount he gives each year, never decreased. He just doesn't give as much as MCPS says he should, so the wording of decreased always comes into play.

Student enrollment has also increased. Has state funding increased as much as student enrollment increased? What is the yearly per-student funding from the state? Has that increased, decreased, or stayed the same?

[Anonymous]

You're wrong on many things:
1) Yes, Hogan has decreased the MCPS budget. He has withheld funds to MoCo and HoCo from the state’s Geographic Cost of Education Index (GCEI) formula, which provides additional state school funding to the school systems where the cost of education is higher.
2) You say that Maryland provides "only" 20% of MCPS's budget. Well, that budget is 2.68 billion, so 20% of that is a huge amount, unless you have a friend who can donate 536 million to Maryland schools.
3) I'm happy if Hogan raises tolls so my kid won't be one of 28 kids in a 1st grade classroom with a teacher and no aide. Education is our future. People should be encouraged to use mass transit.
4) I would be ok with taxes being raised, if my kid's education were to improve. Taxes are the price we pay for living in a civilized society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
First off, he has always increased the amount he gives each year, never decreased. He just doesn't give as much as MCPS says he should, so the wording of decreased always comes into play.

Student enrollment has also increased. Has state funding increased as much as student enrollment increased? What is the yearly per-student funding from the state? Has that increased, decreased, or stayed the same?

Are you asking someone or are you trying to prove a point? I guess the same could be said on the county level and the federal level? Post the stats and let's see.

Let's also compare how much each county gets per pupil in other Maryland counties compared to Montgomery County and who pays for that.

I do know that MCPS spends over $200 million in just administration and overhead staff. I remember reading that. That seems insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
First off, he has always increased the amount he gives each year, never decreased. He just doesn't give as much as MCPS says he should, so the wording of decreased always comes into play.

Student enrollment has also increased. Has state funding increased as much as student enrollment increased? What is the yearly per-student funding from the state? Has that increased, decreased, or stayed the same?

Are you asking someone or are you trying to prove a point? I guess the same could be said on the county level and the federal level? Post the stats and let's see.

Let's also compare how much each county gets per pupil in other Maryland counties compared to Montgomery County and who pays for that.

I do know that MCPS spends over $200 million in just administration and overhead staff. I remember reading that. That seems insane.

I'm asking the OP. The OP said that funding has increased. But if it hasn't kept up with student enrollment increases, then funding has actually decreased.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
First off, he has always increased the amount he gives each year, never decreased. He just doesn't give as much as MCPS says he should, so the wording of decreased always comes into play.

Student enrollment has also increased. Has state funding increased as much as student enrollment increased? What is the yearly per-student funding from the state? Has that increased, decreased, or stayed the same?

Are you asking someone or are you trying to prove a point? I guess the same could be said on the county level and the federal level? Post the stats and let's see.

Let's also compare how much each county gets per pupil in other Maryland counties compared to Montgomery County and who pays for that.

I do know that MCPS spends over $200 million in just administration and overhead staff. I remember reading that. That seems insane.

Why? The total MCPS operating budget is around $2.6 billion. So that would be 8% on administration and administrative staff.

[Anonymous]

OP - I agree with you. The problem is that MoCo and MCPS will not prioritize funding to increase the number of teachers, provide aides or reduce class size.

Any additional money ALWAYS goes to other priorities such as giving raises not just to teachers but to every other administrator and type of employee throughout the system. The union pays itself first and foremost. The union owns the BOE. One of the many bad things that Starr did back around 2010 was to agree to increase the student:teacher ratio so MCPS could give itself a raise while every other county employee was not getting one. MCPS could have put forward a more modest plan that only provided raises to teachers making below a certain amount but it gave raises to everyone. The 140K administrator got a nice raise. A tech guy or admin staffer doing the exact same job in MCPS as they would be doing for the police, fire or any other county service got a raise when the others didn't. It created anger within the rest of the County Council and areas. It diminished the quality of education. Many teachers didn't even agree with it.

I guarantee you that any money MCPS gets will not go toward ensuring that all schools get improvements. It will go toward year long school in low income areas. It will go toward more raises and increasing central office staff. It will go toward more busses to send kids farther away from their neighbor hoods to achieve diversity. It will do to Discovery to rebuy the horrible curriculum that MCPS already wasted millions on harming 7 years worth of students. It will go toward lawyers to protect MCPS staff from all the lawsuits involving sex abuse and failure to provide special needs services. It will never go back to the tax payers students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Third, Hogan has not increased tolls or taxes.

Correct. Hogan cut tolls. But the tolls were paying for bond service, and the bonds still need to be serviced, so the money has to come from somewhere else. Where has it been coming from? From revenue that would otherwise go towards education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I agree with you. The problem is that MoCo and MCPS will not prioritize funding to increase the number of teachers, provide aides or reduce class size.

Any additional money ALWAYS goes to other priorities such as giving raises not just to teachers but to every other administrator and type of employee throughout the system. The union pays itself first and foremost. The union owns the BOE. One of the many bad things that Starr did back around 2010 was to agree to increase the student:teacher ratio so MCPS could give itself a raise while every other county employee was not getting one. MCPS could have put forward a more modest plan that only provided raises to teachers making below a certain amount but it gave raises to everyone. The 140K administrator got a nice raise. A tech guy or admin staffer doing the exact same job in MCPS as they would be doing for the police, fire or any other county service got a raise when the others didn't. It created anger within the rest of the County Council and areas. It diminished the quality of education. Many teachers didn't even agree with it.

I guarantee you that any money MCPS gets will not go toward ensuring that all schools get improvements. It will go toward year long school in low income areas. It will go toward more raises and increasing central office staff. It will go toward more busses to send kids farther away from their neighbor hoods to achieve diversity. It will do to Discovery to rebuy the horrible curriculum that MCPS already wasted millions on harming 7 years worth of students. It will go toward lawyers to protect MCPS staff from all the lawsuits involving sex abuse and failure to provide special needs services. It will never go back to the tax payers students.

Hi, "diversity bussing" alarmist poster!

[Anonymous]

A good liberal never met a problem that more government spending couldn't fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A good liberal never met a problem that more government spending couldn't fix.

Spoken like someone whose little kid isn't in a ridiculously overcrowded public school classroom.

[Anonymous]

You don't want to increase state taxes. Any increase in state taxes that would channel money into the Schools budget, would be shifted to other lower performing counties.

You need to get the County Council to approve a county tax increase with additional funding for schools. That's the only way you can guarantee that any additional taxes levied would be applied towards MoCo schools.