Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS needs to stop paying for MC and if families want that, they can apply for financial aid or grants for it.

Can you show me where that is a budget loss? I think MCPS saves money overall by outsourcing students to MC. Outsourcing allows MCPS to not hire (salary, pension and benefit package) teachers for high level classes at many of the local high schools. Lots of high schools now do not offer classes beyond AP calc or AP physics so do not need to hire for that. This also helps schools avoid hiring teachers overall since students take class elsewhere. The cost savings to MCPS is the difference between what they pay MC and what they would have had to pay MCPS teachers if MC was not an option.

For the record, I am not a huge fan of outsourcing high level classes since I think it is unfair students at schools that do not offer these classes end up being forced off campus and missing social elements or HS and taught by teachers not monitored by MCPS. MCPS states that these schools do not have enough students interested or qualified to take these classes which is why they are outsourced. And no surprise it is the poorer high schools that do not offer these classes at their own schools. But, it is better that students from all schools have access to these classes than not.

I do think that allowing MCPS students to graduate high school with an AA degree is a boon to the students who need that financially. Lower income students can either stay in the Maryland school system to finish off their 4 year degree in two years at a huge cost savings to them or can enter the workforce with their AA. This is of real value to a swath of the MCPS population.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS needs to stop paying for MC and if families want that, they can apply for financial aid or grants for it.

Can you show me where that is a budget loss? I think MCPS saves money overall by outsourcing students to MC. Outsourcing allows MCPS to not hire (salary, pension and benefit package) teachers for high level classes at many of the local high schools. Lots of high schools now do not offer classes beyond AP calc or AP physics so do not need to hire for that. This also helps schools avoid hiring teachers overall since students take class elsewhere. The cost savings to MCPS is the difference between what they pay MC and what they would have had to pay MCPS teachers if MC was not an option.

For the record, I am not a huge fan of outsourcing high level classes since I think it is unfair students at schools that do not offer these classes end up being forced off campus and missing social elements or HS and taught by teachers not monitored by MCPS. MCPS states that these schools do not have enough students interested or qualified to take these classes which is why they are outsourced. And no surprise it is the poorer high schools that do not offer these classes at their own schools. But, it is better that students from all schools have access to these classes than not.

I do think that allowing MCPS students to graduate high school with an AA degree is a boon to the students who need that financially. Lower income students can either stay in the Maryland school system to finish off their 4 year degree in two years at a huge cost savings to them or can enter the workforce with their AA. This is of real value to a swath of the MCPS population.

Anonymous wrote:MCPS needs to stop paying for MC and if families want that, they can apply for financial aid or grants for it.

Anonymous wrote:But he is green lighting the electric buses for the entire state of Maryland. Didn’t Montgomery county have a lot of issues with the buses?

Anonymous wrote:What is Blueprint?

I keep hearing it attached to wacky non-educational stuff.

Anonymous wrote:MCPS needs to stop paying for MC and if families want that, they can apply for financial aid or grants for it.

Anonymous wrote:Is the 10k/year stipend for NBCTs at risk?

Moore so far isn’t offering many specifics but did say that he plans to pause a program that is designed to give school teachers more time away from students for planning, grading, and professional development. The problem with that idea is that it requires hiring many more teachers across the state at a time when most districts are dealing with a teacher shortage.