Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I’m from a state with town based school systems and that’s really not how it works...many school systems draw from an incorporated town and then a few unincorporated areas that surround it.

Kind of like MCPS, huh?

Maryland really doesn't have town-based anything. It's just not how the state government is set up. The basic unit of local government is the county.

DP

No, not kind of like MCPS. MCPS draws from the entire County.

MCPS is just ridiculously large. And the system is not working because it is too large.

But MCPS also draws from several incorporated municipalities and the unincorporated areas that surround them...?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I’m from a state with town based school systems and that’s really not how it works...many school systems draw from an incorporated town and then a few unincorporated areas that surround it.

Kind of like MCPS, huh?

Maryland really doesn't have town-based anything. It's just not how the state government is set up. The basic unit of local government is the county.

Right. In theory it could happen if part of MoCo was split off to form its own county. What's now Montgomery County was once the southern part of Frederick County until 1776. And before that Frederick County was part of Prince Georges County.

As recently as 243 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I’m from a state with town based school systems and that’s really not how it works...many school systems draw from an incorporated town and then a few unincorporated areas that surround it.

Kind of like MCPS, huh?

Maryland really doesn't have town-based anything. It's just not how the state government is set up. The basic unit of local government is the county.

DP

No, not kind of like MCPS. MCPS draws from the entire County.

MCPS is just ridiculously large. And the system is not working because it is too large.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I’m from a state with town based school systems and that’s really not how it works...many school systems draw from an incorporated town and then a few unincorporated areas that surround it.

Kind of like MCPS, huh?

Maryland really doesn't have town-based anything. It's just not how the state government is set up. The basic unit of local government is the county.

Right. In theory it could happen if part of MoCo was split off to form its own county. What's now Montgomery County was once the southern part of Frederick County until 1776. And before that Frederick County was part of Prince Georges County.

Anonymous wrote:
I’m from a state with town based school systems and that’s really not how it works...many school systems draw from an incorporated town and then a few unincorporated areas that surround it.

Kind of like MCPS, huh?

Maryland really doesn't have town-based anything. It's just not how the state government is set up. The basic unit of local government is the county.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have any stats at hand, but there are certainly a huge number of Montgomery County residents who don't live in an incorporated town/city.

Silver Spring, for example, is a huge, amorphous entity without any legally defined boundaries or local governmental institutions outside of what the county provides. You'd either have to set up a municipal government just to collect taxes to fund the schools (which I can't see happening any time soon), or retain MCPS to serve anyone who didn't live in an incorporated city. The area I grew up in was like that, with a county system to serve everyone in the rural areas and smaller towns, plus a city system for the one large city. But it was a given that none of the other small towns could raise enough funds for their own school systems and have any hope of serving students properly.

So I'm wondering: how many non-Silver Spring students there are who also live in an area of MoCo without an additional municipal government? If anyone in a "town" split off into their own individual school system, who would be left? Would it end up being Silver Spring plus some stray pockets here and there throughout the county, or are there more unincorporated areas in MoCo than I realize?

Most of Montgomery County is unincorporated. Here are the incorporated municipalities:

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dps/municipalities.html

Most of them are teeny-weeny. Imagine the Town of Oakmont with its own school system.

I’m from a state with town based school systems and that’s really not how it works...many school systems draw from an incorporated town and then a few unincorporated areas that surround it.

Anonymous wrote:I don't have any stats at hand, but there are certainly a huge number of Montgomery County residents who don't live in an incorporated town/city.

Silver Spring, for example, is a huge, amorphous entity without any legally defined boundaries or local governmental institutions outside of what the county provides. You'd either have to set up a municipal government just to collect taxes to fund the schools (which I can't see happening any time soon), or retain MCPS to serve anyone who didn't live in an incorporated city. The area I grew up in was like that, with a county system to serve everyone in the rural areas and smaller towns, plus a city system for the one large city. But it was a given that none of the other small towns could raise enough funds for their own school systems and have any hope of serving students properly.

So I'm wondering: how many non-Silver Spring students there are who also live in an area of MoCo without an additional municipal government? If anyone in a "town" split off into their own individual school system, who would be left? Would it end up being Silver Spring plus some stray pockets here and there throughout the county, or are there more unincorporated areas in MoCo than I realize?

Most of Montgomery County is unincorporated. Here are the incorporated municipalities:

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dps/municipalities.html

Most of them are teeny-weeny. Imagine the Town of Oakmont with its own school system.

I don't have any stats at hand, but there are certainly a huge number of Montgomery County residents who don't live in an incorporated town/city.

Silver Spring, for example, is a huge, amorphous entity without any legally defined boundaries or local governmental institutions outside of what the county provides. You'd either have to set up a municipal government just to collect taxes to fund the schools (which I can't see happening any time soon), or retain MCPS to serve anyone who didn't live in an incorporated city. The area I grew up in was like that, with a county system to serve everyone in the rural areas and smaller towns, plus a city system for the one large city. But it was a given that none of the other small towns could raise enough funds for their own school systems and have any hope of serving students properly.

So I'm wondering: how many non-Silver Spring students there are who also live in an area of MoCo without an additional municipal government? If anyone in a "town" split off into their own individual school system, who would be left? Would it end up being Silver Spring plus some stray pockets here and there throughout the county, or are there more unincorporated areas in MoCo than I realize?

Anonymous wrote:So back to the subject. Its hypocritical to say you object to MCPS being broken up because you don't want the low income eastern schools to become poorer. Right now there is more poverty and less funding for schools in Baltimore MD than eastern MoCo. Those posters have no problem diverted more funds at the county level to eastern MoCo but would scream if those same dollars were diverted to Baltimore where there is more need.

I don't understand how it's diverting funding when Montgomery County money goes to Montgomery County schools.

So back to the subject. Its hypocritical to say you object to MCPS being broken up because you don't want the low income eastern schools to become poorer. Right now there is more poverty and less funding for schools in Baltimore MD than eastern MoCo. Those posters have no problem diverted more funds at the county level to eastern MoCo but would scream if those same dollars were diverted to Baltimore where there is more need.

It would be more equitable to let places like Rockville, Bethesda, Silver Spring or Potomac become their own school systems AND have a greater tax combination up to the state level to be distributed across the state to the most needy schools.

Many states allow a combination of county, city, township and independent school districts. In some states school systems are independent and don't align with the township or city boundaries. These work pretty well.

What would have to happen would be a change within the MD state legislature allowing independent school districts. The next step would be for the communities desiring this to petition to form one. It would be a far better situation for residents and students.


Large school systems always fail for a variety of reasons.

1. The organization becomes too large for employees trained in education to run. Someone with an educational background is simply not capable or qualified to run a 2B organization. Once a system reaches the size of MCPS the operational, financial management, and employee management exceed the capacity of administration to handle because the funding, internal desire and structure is not there to hire people outside of education with the background to run it.

2. It creates a system where the system acts in the interest of perpetuating itself rather than educating the students. The central office is 100% about holding onto higher paying jobs in a field that doesn't offer these very often. Teachers post all the time about the toxic environment, butt kissing requirements placed on them by the central office, the mentality of employees trying to get the cushy central office job so never doing what is right, on and on. This creates waste in a system that does not have extra money to waste. It impedes progress and improvement and ultimately leads to a system with no accountability which is exactly what we have in MCPS.

3. It creates a system so large that it no longer needs to listen or care about what the communities want. Its a magnet for education types who live in their own heads and want to experiment whatever trend catches their eye with no accountability to anyone. Its attracts people like the former superintendent Starr who want a platform to be famous while have no interest or ability to run a school system.

4. A large system will stamp out teacher innovation and treat teachers like scripted robots.

5. A large system by design can not be uniform across all the schools and meet the unique needs of differing communities.

Anonymous wrote:Algorithm applicants flood the lottos. It’s not even a bidding process so very easy.

What is an "algorithm applicant"?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS will not stop Bethesda and Potomac taxpayers from subsidizing the rest of the county. No way. That would be killing the slush fund goose.

Past Bethesda and Potomac residents made sure all the low-income housing in a few remote corners of the county.

Go fundraise, buy some land, raze it, and put up your “low income housing” in the middle of downtown BEthesda. The current low income housing costs $1m per townhouse and $500k per 2 BR so maybe you can subsidize the rent for a few decades as well.

I'm seeing 20 MPDUs for sale in Bethesda right now.

https://apps.montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA-MPDU/DevelopmentOffering/List

Don’t investment broker shell individuals bid on these and then it is actually a rental property a couple years later after the fake family moves in for a bit. $150,000/ unit in Chevy chase must have 10,000s in the lotto drawing...

No. If you have evidence that somebody is doing this, report them to the county. That's illegal.

Evidence of rent control apartments owned by the same person for 10,20,30+ years subletting it out? That would be several after time.

These are not rent-controlled apartments.

Algorithm applicants flood the lottos. It’s not even a bidding process so very easy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS will not stop Bethesda and Potomac taxpayers from subsidizing the rest of the county. No way. That would be killing the slush fund goose.

Past Bethesda and Potomac residents made sure all the low-income housing in a few remote corners of the county.

Go fundraise, buy some land, raze it, and put up your “low income housing” in the middle of downtown BEthesda. The current low income housing costs $1m per townhouse and $500k per 2 BR so maybe you can subsidize the rent for a few decades as well.

I'm seeing 20 MPDUs for sale in Bethesda right now.

https://apps.montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA-MPDU/DevelopmentOffering/List

Don’t investment broker shell individuals bid on these and then it is actually a rental property a couple years later after the fake family moves in for a bit. $150,000/ unit in Chevy chase must have 10,000s in the lotto drawing...

No. If you have evidence that somebody is doing this, report them to the county. That's illegal.

Evidence of rent control apartments owned by the same person for 10,20,30+ years subletting it out? That would be several after time.

Anonymous wrote:So instead of $1.2M it is $1.0M as section 8.

No, that's not how housing vouchers work.

https://dhcd.maryland.gov/Residents/Pages/HousingChoice/default.aspx