Education Legislation

Here's a list of relevant education-related legislation that's been proposed this year. For each bill, below I've listed the number, a link to the text, a summary, and my stance on it.

HB1: Education - Youth Athletes - Concussions

- http://mlis.state.md.us/2011rs/bills/hb/hb0001f.pdf

- Summary: Requires county Boards of Education and the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association to provide education regarding concussions and take appropriate action related to such injuries.

- Stance: Support with amendment (the school system can't be held accountable for educating all people involved in non-school related youth activities)

HB38/SB489: Nonpublic Schools Accepting State Funds – Bullying, Harassment, and Intimidation – Policies

- http://mlis.state.md.us/2011rs/bills/hb/hb0038f.pdf
- Summary: Nonpublic schools that accept state funds must adopt an anti-bullying/harassment policy.

- Stance: Support

HB44/SB53: Education - Waiver from Maintenance of Effort Requirement - Process and Factors
- http://mlis.state.md.us/2011rs/bills/hb/hb0044f.pdf
- Summary: Changes certain factors regarding the Maintenance of Effort requirement and waiver process.
- Stance: Support with amendment (allowing a county's history of exceeding MOE to be evaluated in the context of the MSDE Education Effort Index)

HB73: Vehicle Laws - School Buses - Prohibition on Permitting Sitting on Floor or Standing

- http://mlis.state.md.us/2011rs/bills/hb/hb0073f.pdf

- Summary: Prohibits a person responsible for students on a school bus from permitting said students from standing or sitting on the floor.

- Stance: Oppose (Issue is already addressed in COMAR - penalizing transportation staff is unnecessary)

HB127/SB262: State Board of Education - Financial Literacy Curriculum - Graduation Requirement
- http://mlis.state.md.us/2011rs/bills/hb/hb0127f.pdf

- Summary: Requires the State Board of Education to develop a financial literacy course, each county to implement it, and students to complete it as a required graduation credit.

- Stance: Oppose

SB41: Education - Age for Compulsory Public School Attendance - Exemptions
- http://mlis.state.md.us/2011rs/bills/sb/sb0041f.pdf

- Summary: Raises compulsory age of school attendance to 17.

- Stance: Support

SB109: Public Institutions of Higher Education - Course Credit - Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Examinations

- http://mlis.state.md.us/2011rs/bills/sb/sb0109f.pdf

- Summary: Requires public institutions of higher education to grant the same credit for AP and IB.

- Stance: Support

SB167: Higher Education - Tuition Charges - Maryland High School Students

- http://mlis.state.md.us/2011rs/bills/sb/sb0167f.pdf

- Summary: Allows individuals who graduated from Maryland high schools to pay resident tuition at public institutions of higher education (excluding documented immigrants). Similar to the federal Dream Act.

- Stance: Support

Thomas Edison HS/Wheaton HS Roundtable Advisory Committee Report

The Thomas Edison High School of Technology/Wheaton High School Roundtable Advisory Committee released its report last week.

Superintendent of schools Dr. Weast will be reviewing the report as he develops his recommendation about Edison and Wheaton.

On February 8th (tomorrow) Dr. Weast will release his recommendation.
On February 28th, the Board of Education will have a work session.
On March 15th, the Board of Education will hold a public hearing.
Finally, on March 28th, the Board of Education will take action.

The Committee developed several approaches to deal with Edison and Wheaton. Below is an excerpt from the report describing each approach.


Approach 1—One Comprehensive High School and One Career Technology Education (CTE) Center on Current Site
A. Status Quo
• Maintain existing relationship between Thomas Edison High School of Technology (Edison) and Wheaton High School
• Program improvements as needed for Edison and Wheaton High School
B. Edison and Wheaton High School in one building
• Buildings are attached and located on the current site
• Keep Edison and Wheaton High School separate and add an application-based magnet program at Wheaton High School
• Expand enrollment in the CTE center programs at Edison
• Upgrade programs and expand partnerships at Edison and Wheaton High School
• No redundancy in CTE programs between Edison and Wheaton High School
C. Two separate buildings for Edison and Wheaton High School
• Keep Edison and Wheaton High School separate and add an application-based magnet program at Wheaton High School
• Expand enrollment in the CTE center programs at Edison
• Upgrade programs and expand partnerships at Edison and Wheaton High School
• No redundancy in CTE programs between Edison and Wheaton High School

Approach 2—One Comprehensive High School that Includes the CTE Programs of Thomas Edison High School of Technology and Wheaton High School
A. One comprehensive high school on the site that serves the needs of all students
• School offers graduation requirement courses, current Wheaton  High School  CTE programs, and current Edison CTE center programs in one Grades 9–12 school.
• School serves the whole continuum of students—for example, special education, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Gifted and Talented (GT), Advanced Placement (AP)
• Expand the time period to acquire credits for CTE programs from 2 years (Grades 11 and 12 for most programs) to 4 years
• Add CTE preparatory courses as needed in Grades 9 and 10
• Provide two enrollment patterns:
• For Downcounty Consortium (DCC) students:  Enroll in the comprehensive high school without designating a specific CTE program or choose to apply to the CTE center programs
• For students outside DCC:  Students across the county apply to the CTE programs5
B. One  comprehensive  high  school on the site that serves the needs of all students and allows students to enroll after Grade 9.
• Same as 2.A. but allows additional students to enroll in comprehensive  high  school for Grades 10, 11, or 12
C. One  comprehensive  high  school on the site that serves the needs of all students and allows students to enroll in CTE programs for part of the day while remaining enrolled in their home high school.
• Same as 2.A. but allows additional students to enroll in CTE programs in Grades 10, 11, or 12 for part of the day while remaining enrolled in their home high school

Approach 3—Wheaton High  School Remains on the Current Site and CTE Center Programs Are Relocated to Another Site
• Move Edison CTE center programs to another location
• Upgrade CTE programs at Edison and create additional partnerships with businesses
• Make Wheaton High School a high-tech high school and expand partnerships

Approach 4—Multiple Locations for CTE Programs
• Create three comprehensive CTE centers throughout the county
• Students would attend the center for CTE programs and attend their home high school for most graduation requirements
• CTE programs that are packaged together by industry/subject matter and divided among separate comprehensive high schools, which would allow student to have more access to programs (disperse Edison CTE center programs to comprehensive high schools across the county)
• Roll the CTE/magnet programs into other modernization projects and offer an upcounty and downcounty CTE center
• Make Wheaton High School a high-tech high school and expand partnerships

Approach 5—Charter school with business involvement
• CTE programs would be run by a charter school with business involvement Roundtable members also identified implementation strategies that could be considered with any of the approaches.  These strategies include:
1. Create a middle school connector or overview program that lead to CTE programs
2. Create more MCPS  Foundation courses to help develop CTE programs and magnet
programs
3. Create introductory classes at home school for Grade 9 students that introduce students to
CTE programs
4. Make CTE facilities available for adult education

The report is located here: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/planning/pdf/EdisonWheatonFinalRoundtableReport.pdf

MC 7-11 Passes 21-1-2 in the Montgomery County House

On Friday, February 4th, the Montgomery County House Delegation voted on MC 7-11, the SMOB voting rights bill.

It passed with a near unanimous majority vote of 21-1-2, with only Delegate Gilchrist voting in the negative (again). Delegates Mizeur and Simmons were absent from the voting.

The bill will now move to the Montgomery County Senate Delegation.
The members of the Senate Delegation are:

• - District 14: Karen Montgomery, Phone: 301-858-3625 / 410-841-3625
• - District 15: Rob Garagiola, Phone: 301-858-3169 / 410-841-3169
• - District 16: Brian Frosh, Phone: 301-858-3124 / 410-841-3124
• - District 17: Jennie Forehand, Phone: 301-858-3134 / 410-841-3134
• - District 18: Richard Madaleno, Phone: 301-858-3137 / 410-841-3137
• - District 19: Roger Manno, Phone: 301-858-3151 / 410-841-3151
• - District 20: Jamie Raskin, Phone: 301-858-3634 / 410-841-3634
• - District 39: Nancy King, Phone: 301-858-3686 / 410-841-3686

The SMOB Council and I will be working on lobbying over the next several weeks.

Full text of the bill: http://www.montgomerycountydelegation.com/documents/MC7-11.pdf

County Affairs Committee Vote (February 2nd): http://www.montgomerycountydelegation.com/documents/CAMC7-11bill.pdf

House Delegation Vote (February 4th): http://www.montgomerycountydelegation.com/documents/HouseDelMC7-11bill.pdf

MC 7-11 Passes County Affairs Committee

Today the County Affairs Committee voted 5-1 on the SMOB voting rights bill, MC 7-11.

Delegates Frick, Cullison, Feldman, Kaiser, and Reznik voted in the affirmative while Delegate Gilchrist voted in the negative. Delegates Carr and Hixson were absent from the meeting.

The next step for this bill is the Montgomery County House Delegation Meeting on Friday, February 4th.

Maintenance of Effort Bill

There's currently a bill in the Senate that would make certain changes to the Maintenance of Effort law:

- Altering the date by which a county governing body must make a request to the State Board of Education for a waiver from the maintenance of effort requirement;
- requiring the State Board to consider specified factors when making a decision whether to grant a waiver;
- requiring the State Superintendent of Schools to make a preliminary assessment of waiver applications by a specified time

The full text of the bill on its First Reading is here.

It is important to remember that Maintenance of Effort is an important requirement that ensures adequate funding for education by maintaining a "floor" for local funding.

List of Potential Budget Cuts

Recently, the Governor released his budget, which included $37 million more in state aid to MCPS than originally anticipated. Most of this increase will help make up for the loss of federal stimulus funds this year.

Moreover, MCPS has been able to save $15 million this year that will go towards next year's budget. However, we're still facing a crisis at the local level. County Executive Ike Leggett said that his proposed budget won't meet the state's Maintenance of Effort requirement.

In order to meet MOE, we have to provide an increase of $82 million in funding to cover increased enrollment. However, we may have to cut $82 million from our budget if the county doesn't provide this funding. This would require eliminating step increases ($28 million), further delaying funding future retiree benefits ($6 million), and personnel/program reductions ($48 million).

As a result, Dr. Weast recently released a list of possible budget reductions. Below is the list - however, it's important to keep in mind that these reductions are listed randomly and are not final.

SMOB Application Deadline Extended!

Due to the snow days and homes without power, the deadline for students to submit their application for student member on the Board of Education (SMOB) has been extended until 4 PM on Monday, January 31st.

Candidates must bring their original application to the mandatory candidates' meeting at 4 PM on Monday, January 31st from 4-6 PM in the Cafeteria of Carver Educational Services Center (CESC) 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville.

Candidates should dress nicely as the MCPS photographer will take group pictures and the individual candidate portraits from 5:00-6:00 p.m in his studio at CESC.

Application: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/studentaffairs/pdf/smob/information/SMOBapp2011.pdf

Missing Olney Teen Found in Texas!

(WUSA) -- Montgomery County Police say they have found one of the teens from Olney who has been missing since January 12.

County police learned Nicholas (Cole) Balderson, 17, and Rachel Reilly, 16, might be in the San Antonio, Texas area and began coordinating with the San Antonio Police Department.

Thursday night, county detectives were contacted by San Antonio Police Department investigators who said they took Rachel Reilly into custody at approximately 8:15 p.m.

San Antonio Police had received information that the two teens may be staying at a homeless camp near a San Antonio truck stop, T and A Travel Center of America in San Antonio. They located a homeless camp to the rear of the truck stop, and police say when officers approached, two subjects matching the teens' descriptions fled on foot.

Police were able to stop and detain the girl and identified her as Rachel Reilly. Balderson was not apprehended.

Rachel Reilly was taken into custody by the San Antonio Police and is waiting to be reunited with family. Police say she appears to be uninjured and in good health.

Police say Balderson is still missing, and it is believed that he remains in the San Antonio area.

Anyone who may know the whereabouts of Cole Balderson is asked to call the Montgomery County Police Family Crimes Division at 240-773-5400 or the police non-emergency number at 301-279-8000.

Ike Leggett - MCPS Will Pay Fine Instead of Meeting MOE

In the below article, County Executive Ike Leggett tells the Washington Examiner that the county will not fully fund the school system, and that MCPS will ultimately have to pay a penalty for being unable to meet  Maintenance of Effort for yet another consecutive year. 

Although other branches of county government are suffering enormous cuts as well, Maintenance of Effort is the law and must be met in order to ensure a world class quality of education for our students, especially because of enrollment increases.

For context, Maintenance of Effort is a state law that requires the County Council, MCPS' funding body, to spend as much money per student as it did the previous year. However, last year we were granted a Maintenance of Effort waiver from the state.

This means that this year's Maintenance of Effort requirement is at FY 2010's level of $10,664 per student. Unfortunately, this also means that we are unlikely to be granted a waiver like last year, leaving us with a penalty in the form of loss of state aid.

MontCo will pay state fine instead of increasing school spending
By: Brian Hughes

Montgomery County will not spend an extra $82 million on public schools next fiscal year, County Executive Ike Leggett told The Washington Examiner, citing the suburb's chronic funding shortfalls as the need to buck state requirements.

"It's just not practical for us to fill that request," Leggett said of Superintendent Jerry Weast's call for tens of millions of dollars more in county funding. "We'd either have to raise taxes or tap department budgets that have already been hit hard the last two or three years. I'm not going to do that."

Under state law, local jurisdictions are required to pay the same amount per student as the year before. But facing a $300 million shortfall -- on the heels of filling a $1 billion budget gap -- Leggett and County Council members say they would rather take a hit in state funding than raid department budgets.

The county would miss out on $33 million in state aid by not meeting the standard, ultimately saving $50 million at a minimum compared with Weast's proposal.

For years, county officials pumped millions of dollars more than required into the schools and built one of the nation's top-achieving public education systems. The county was granted a waiver for not meeting the so-called maintenance of effort this fiscal year, but officials say they will not receive a free pass again.

Leggett's announcement on Tuesday was met with disappointment from school board members, who have routinely battled with the council over funding that accounts for 57 percent of all taxpayer dollars spent in the county.

"With an increase in students and an increase in needs, not having an increase in dollars makes it very difficult to maintain the quality of education for our children," said School Board President Christopher Barclay.

Weast's $2.16 billion budget proposal included spending for an expected 3,340 more students next year and roughly 154 more teachers. It also recommended step increases -- a 3 percent annual raise, on average -- that would have cost $15 million.

By not meeting the Maryland standard, Leggett would be free to slash the schools' budget from prior levels. He will present his budget to the council in March.

Multiple council members Tuesday endorsed Leggett's decision.

"I agree with him," said Councilman George Leventhal, D-at large. "We cannot starve the rest of county government. Unfortunately, the school system is going to have to find substantial savings."

Charter Schools

Recently the Maryland State Board of Education reversed our decision to reject applications for two charter schools, Global Garden and Crossway Community. In part of its 17-page opinion, the state writes, "Members of a local board have a duty to evaluate public charter school applications based on the sufficiency of their contents, and not on the board member's own personal view of whether charter schools should exist."

We will have 90 days to reconsider these applications. To put this debate in context, there are currently no charter schools operating in Montgomery County, and some concerns that were cited in our original debate were discussions regarding the effects of charter schools on the budget.

According to MCPS spokesperson Dana Tofig, county lawyers are still reviewing the state board's decision - however, it is possible that the MCPS Board of Education will only have to put their reasons for denial in writing, and not actually reconsider the applications.