Operating
Budget
I met
with MCPS Budget Director Marshall Spatz last week
and asked a variety
of questions about the FY2007 recommended budget. Here are
questions and his responses and my comments on selected
items. Please note that when I give him my opinion
I am careful not to say it is the
MCCPTA position if it is something MCCPTA hasn't taken a
position on.
(Most dollar figures are from citizens budget which includes
benefits associated with each position, the personnel
complement only uses salary figures--so if you notice
discrepancies there are probably due to this. FTE means Full Time
Equivalents--# number of positions)
In no particular order:
1. Why is there only
$500,000 for MS reform and does MCPS have any plans yet for exactly how the money
will be spent?
There actually are two chunks of money for MS reform.
In addition to the $500,000 there is $840,000 in
the Office of Organizational Development (OOD) that is
intended for staff training in MS.
MCPS is currently considering extended day/extended year
programs because these have some research supporting their
effectiveness. He
added that MS reform efforts and all
MS reform money needs to be spent on targeted programs which would help
underachieving students pass state tests.
I commented to him that in my opinion the vast majority of
parents would be extremely unhappy if the only
result of MS reform was directed only at students who are not
passing state tests as I thought many parents view
MS as an intellectual wasteland and are expecting changes that will
impact all students, not just students who are currently
performing badly.
He went on to say that MCPS would like official input from
MCCPTA regarding the $500,000 and they also would like input
from local schools regarding any local programs that
are working and could be brought to their MSs.
2. What
is special Ed Tech support ($516,000 in budget) and why is MCPS developing its own system
when the state has a program that MCPS could use for free?
This money is for a web-based IEP which will be used as an
analytical tool to see what is working for kids. The state
does have a program/template that could be used for recording a
student's current IEP only. MCPS is purchasing
a system which has more features including a
data base that includes all past interventions which the student has
received both before and after being coded as special ed. MCPS intends this
to be a diagnostic system which can evaluate
interventions and see which ones have been most
effective and which ones have not. The MCPS system
will be able to link to other general school data bases which the state
program can not do.
3. There
are 25 positions ($1.45 million) to support special education inclusion in the
HS. Is this to address oversize classes in general
or will it be targeted?
These positions will be targeted to HS's
with lots of special education students and are not
intended to address the larger issue of HS oversize classes.
(I pointed out that MS's need some help here too.)
4. Ride
by the Rules ($75,000 and 2.5 FTE)--what is this?
Although this shows an increase in 2.5 FTE, it does not
represent an increase in the number of people; each bus driver
will be paid for 30
minutes more per week. Right now this program exists
in a few schools and next year it will be extended
to all schools. Each bus driver (who handles
routes for 3-4 schools) will go to each school approximately once
per month for a thirty minute meeting/debriefing where they will report/discuss
on issues/problems with buses, student behavior etc. Right
now bus drivers have limited time to talk with school staff, and taking
this time frequently makes them late for their next route.
5. There
is $250,000 for increased security and violence intervention. What will this
be spent on?
This money is a place holder (meaning they don't know yet)
and MCPS would like input from MCCPTA and parents on how to
spend the money. The current efforts with gangs
and bullying are very uncoordinated and they
are thinking of spending some money for a coordinator for
these programs. MCPS has focused mainly on prevention
through programs like Safe and
6. There
is $711,000 in the budget for technology initiatives. What are these?
User support specialist in ES ($227,000 3 FTE)--Each ES currently
gets 8 hours per week of user support specialist
time. This will increase the allotment to 9 hours per
week. This was in last year's budget and was cut
by the Council. Much of this time is spent helping ES with the TCM
(palm pilot assessment software). Each user support
specialist currently serves 5 schools and MCPS would like each
person to eventually handle only 4 schools (so each
school would receive 10 hours of service per
week).
Support Grading and Reporting ($192,000, 2 FTE)--This money
is for computer programmers. MCPS uses a commercial
system which needs to be
adapted and expanded to all schools. Currently the 17
ES which are piloting the new report card are using this system.
There is other money for technology which is not considered
an initiative but rather an expansion of existing
programs. For example, all HSs
will get new software for the Stanford Diagnostic tests and other
evaluative tools which are already in use at ES and MSs.
7. What is the
monthly/annual cost of each PDA that all K-2 teachers are using and what are these costs
for?
8. MCPS
received funding for 15 ES assistant principals yet only hired 13 last year.
Why? What will be the criteria for the 15 additional
APs included in this year's budget?
15 was just a guestimate
of how many they thought they would need. MCPS set
certain criteria for allocating the 15 new positions last year and only
13 schools met the criteria. This year (probable criteria—not
definite), schools with enrollments between
500-600 will get an AP. Most focus schools will get
an AP if they don't already have one, although MCPS still has not
decided whether focus schools with very small enrollments will get
an AP.
9. Six ES special
Education coordinators are being cut. Why and which schools will lose this position?
There are 6 coordinators at ES with learning centers.
These schools will keep their coordinators.
There
are 6 coordinators at schools with large special education populations, these schools
will lose their coordinators because they already
got an AP last year, or will get an AP this year.
Follow-up question: I know that schools who have this position and an AP
say both are needed because there is enough work for both people.
Everyone says they are busy.
10. IB
programs and gifted programs are receiving $191,000. What is this money going towards?
Some of this money replaces grant money that was previously
funding IB/GT programs. Some of it is for expanding
existing programs into
additional grades. Schools receiving this
funding are: College Gardens ES (for PYPIB); SSIMS,
Newport Mill MS, Key MS (all MYP); Julius West, Westland MSs
and RM, BCC, Watkins Mill HS. Clemente
MS and Chevy Chase ES will get money for expansion.
Money for the Poolesville magnet which was proposed in the
CIP has not yet been put into the operating budget and will be
added before the BOE takes action on the operating
budget.
11.
Art/Music/PE are each receiving one FTE to reduce
class ratios. Is
this a meaningful reduction?
It is a small step to address scheduling problems in CSR
schools.
12. There
is money ($702,000) to offer assistance for teachers with assessments and other
duties. What does this mean?
There is $300,000 for substitutes for kindergarten teachers
so that teachers will have time to do the additional
assessments they were asked to do this year.
$301.000 is for 12.5 FTE in teaching assistant
positions. Every ES will get an allotment of a
couple hours each week. This position is at a similar
pay level to lunch room aides and the teaching
assistants will be doing clerical work such as
copying handouts, making packets etc.
13. There
is a budget item, expansion of monitoring by directors of school performance ($198,000, 2
FTE). Is this an increase in the number of
directors and if so which area will get an additional director?
This is funding for two new directors of school
performance. Kevin Maxwell's area (
14. There
are 18 building service workers added as an initiative and 40 for new schools. 40 positions
for 1 HS and 4 ES seems like a lot
compared to current staffing levels. Are new schools getting
more workers than existing schools?
No, the 40 FTE are for new
schools and additions, so some of these positions are going to
existing schools. All of these 40 positions are for
new square footage, the other 18 are to go to schools
which are not expanding in size.
14. There
are many minor cuts such as a reduction of $138,000 in printing costs which will delay
the availability of instructional guides (page
18 of fat budget book). Other items include $400,000 in summer stipends
for progam development, $350,000 in development of
online training modules, and $300,000 in ES core team
training days. Given that staff have been
complaining for several years that instructional materials
are not ready with enough lead time is this particular cut wise
and why is this being cut if you know it will have a negative effect?
MCPS was told by the County Council that if it wanted money
for new initiatives that it had to show it was willing to cut
other things. It
is true that the cut in printing funding will delay the
availability of instructional materials. On
the other hand, the cut in summer funding
for program development means that curriculum changes will
take longer to develop so the delay in printing may not matter as
much.
15. Is
there a loss of a position in Real Estate Management?
No, this position is being transferred to the CIP.
16.
The funding for textbooks is first reported to increase due to an inflation factor, then decrease
due to decreasing enrollment, then cut. What's the real deal?
There is a reported increase in textbook funding per pupil
of 6% to account for inflation in textbook prices.
Secondly, since the number of general education students
is declining, textbook funding will decrease because
there are fewer students and the funding is done on a per pupil basis.
Finally, the per pupil amount is being cut from the 6%
inflation factor for the reason given in #14 above.
There aren't really very many good textbooks out there to
buy.
Followup
Q: if you are proposing a cut in the inflation factor, why don't
you just include a lower number to begin with? We wanted to show
the full amount which would cover inflationary increases in
textbook prices and then show that we were asking for less.
17. The
HS initiative is an undefined item asking for $2.6 million.
What is MCPS thinking of doing with this money and how can
people
comment during testimony if there are no details.
MCPS put the $2.6 million in because it figured it was
better to ask for it with no details than to have to
wait another year to make the changes. MCPS would
like comments/input from MCCPTA right away regarding
how it would like the money to be allocated.
Right now, the Superintendent is looking at three areas to
include:
--reduction in over size classes (would only partially
address this issue)
--intervention programs for students with difficulty reading
--extended day programs to address students with inelibility issues
among other things.
18. There
is a $4.7 million reduction in FICA/self insurance. In October you told me this item
would increase by $910,000. How can there e
such a big change and what does it mean?
The reduction partly comes from a decrease in the experience
rate (rate of prior claims), MCPS has been working on accident
reduction programs
and these are taking effect and reducing claims.. Most of the reduction comes
from a decrease in the amount the county is asking MCPS to pay (which
was unknown in October). The County restored the risk management
fund to solvency, in previous years
MCPS and other agencies were paying more to make up for losses.
19.
There is a pilot program (15.3 FTE) for MSs to
implement an hours
based special education staffing model. (This is a model where
special education programs are staffed based on the number
of hours of service they are required to service students
according to the students' IEPs
rather than a fixed ratio of students to teachers.) Why are only
two schools piloting this and how were these schools
selected? Will this be expanded to other schools?
Forest Oaks MS and Silver Spring International MS were
selected because they were two of the schools which
did not make AYP (Comment--many
middle schools did not make AYP.) Between the two
schools this initiative provides 7 FTE teachers and 8.3 FTE paraeducators. It will
be expensive to do this at every MS. MCPS will be
evaluating the pilot program based on increases in
student achievement and its effect on the
degree of inclusion to determine whether it will be
expanded.
20. Another budget item is
the special education Teaching Station Staffing Model (24.4 FTE total, 13 FTE teachers, 11.4 FTE
paraeducators).
What is this?
This is an initiative to ensure that each MS has at least
3.0 FTE special education teachers and each HS has at least 4
FTE special
education teachers for LAD and Resource students. It
will increase staffing at mostly smaller downcounty schools which do not have large
numbers of special education students. The reason MCPS
wants to have a minimum number of special
education teachers at each school is to make
sure that it has teachers who are certified in special
education and all the content areas. For
example, if a school had only one special education
teacher that teacher would have to have content certification in
at least 4 content areas. Adding more staff allows special education
teachers to specialize in one or two content areas, and in HSs means that the teachers don't
have to teach all grade levels either.
21. There are 2 FTE
professional growth consultants added. Since MCPS has already put more than half
their teachers through the skillful teacher training, why do
they need to add more staff?
These 2 positions are to conduct a professional growth
program for supporting services personnel--they will not be
training teachers.
22.
Some principals have suggested that the professional growth consultants
case load of 16 teachers seems light since the consultants
often only show up at the new teacher's school one to two
hours per month. Why is this the
caseload?
The consultants are supposed to observe each teacher 2-3
times per month. If principals feel that the consultant
is not doing his/her job, they can speak to the person in
charge of the program.
23. HS/MS
LAD staffing is too be increased by 38.75 FTE. This will return MCPS to the student/staff
ratios of the 90's. This money was also
in the FY02 budget--what happened?
Yes, the same item was funded in FY02 to return the LAD
programs to 90's staffing levels. However,
over time the ratios gradually crept up as well
as there being 400 LAD students over projection. It is hard to
find special education teachers.
24. What does is the
special education Parent Outreach System?
25. I'm
surprised that in spite of the high level of support at the forums there is so little for
translation/interpretation services and not anything that is school
based. Why?
MCPS is adding 4 communication specialists (translators), 1
FTE secretary, and .5 FTE data operator to translate more
publications into
other languages. This is a change from contracting out
those services. MCPS found that often the
translated documents had to be redone within MCPS
because the contactors did not understand the educational language and
jargon (Do English speaking parents understand
this either??????). These positions will all be
central-office based. Jane Bulter in charge of developing a plan
for increasing the number of school based personnel.
Follow-up: you told me earlier that MCPS was studying
how to bring school based personnel on board. Since so many
parents and staff think
that there needs to be someone at their schools who can communicate
with non-English speaking parents, I don't know why you
are still studying
this rather than doing something right away. For
example, for the same amount of money that you are
spending on teaching assistants to copy
handouts (300K) you could give each principal 2-3 hours per
week of a bilingual person who could make phone calls to
parents, translate
in-school things like principals' letters, and also be
available for parents to call in to. This
would not need to be someone with teaching skills.
Principals wouldn't support that.
Follow-up: Why wouldn't principals want someone in
their school a few hours a week to communicate with
parents?
Well, a teaching assistant would actually be doing some real
work. These people wouldn't be doing anything.
Follow-up: I think making calls and translating and
offering an opportunity for parents to speak to someone at the
school is real work.
Well, it doesn't seem so. They wouldn't actually be
doing anything.
Follow-up: If you value home-school communication you
would think that providing that service is actually
working.
We would never be able to find people to do that.
Follow-up: Why not, you are suggesting that principals
find someone to copy papers for 2-3 hours per
week? Many lunch aides are parents,
these parents might also be able to provide translations and
make phone calls too.
You don't understand. Those people aren't available to
work at schools. They are too busy working 2-3 jobs and taking
care of their kids. It wouldn't work and principals
wouldn't want someone at their school who isn't
doing a real job..
26. What are the
costs of operating summer remedial programs? Does tuition cover the costs?
HS students in regular summer school courses (such as
health) pay tuition that covers the whole cost. Remedial
programs are not fully funded by fees.
Middle school students pay nominal amounts for the summer
school programs which were formerly covered by grants.
27. Is the cost
of summer school or after school programs affected by the use of HS students earning SSL
hours?
Not really since each group still needs a teacher.
28. How
many schools offer remedial academic programs?
All Title One ES offer ELO programs. MSs and HS offer extended year
programs. Some special education students have ESY programs.
All MS and HS are offering extended day classes this year.
There was a One Pass Challenge program in the 6 poorest
middle schools;
the state did not fund that program this year.
Jane de Winter
MCCPTA Operating Budget Chair.
January
5, 2007