Education Committee Requests Your Input
By Mark R. Adelman, Chair, MCCF Education CommitteeThe Education Committee is embarking on a long-term effort to understand, and offer comment on, MCPS and Board of Education (BoE) policies in two major areas: budget and curriculum. Two recently released MCPS documents paint a very positive picture of the state of our schools. The first, "Annual Report, Fall 2004: Building Our Future", describes improvements in student performance as measured by test scores, etc. The second, "The Citizens Budget, FY 2006", covers much of the same ground, but focuses on Superintendent Weast's proposed budget for FY 2006. Both documents are available by placing at phone call to the MCPS Department of Public Information at 301-279-3391. We urge interested Civic Federation members and delegates to obtain copies and to peruse them.
Dr. Weast presented the proposed FY 2006 Budget on December 15 to an overflow
and very enthusiastic crowd at Rockville High Sschool. I, frankly, was surprised
at both the vacuous nature of the presentation (it was essentially a "State
of the Schools" speech) and the apparently high level of citizen approval.
My question to all of you is two-fold:
1. Do the "performance numbers" mesh with your perception of how
our schools are doing?
2. Do the proposed budget numbers make sense to you, in terms of what you
know of how our schools are actually operating?
The BoE will be holding a series of public hearings on the proposed budget in January. Our Committee intends to be present and to make comments. We would like to incorporate into our testimony issues raised by MCCF member organizations. Hence this request. If you have any feedback, positive or negative or neutral, to offer about either of the above reports and the issues they may raise, please contact me (adelman3@erols.com or 301-942-6893). We would very much appreciate comments that reflect consensus of your organizations, but will also be glad to receive comments of a more individual/anecdotal nature.
The impression that one gains from attending BoE and MCPS public hearings is that, while some citizens have valid and specific concerns about Montgomery County Public Schools, most people are - in the broad sense - fairly pleased with how things are going. In order for our committee, and thus MCCF, to "represent" your views in such hearings, we need your feedback. PLEASE CONTACT US!
This Page Last Edited: January 1, 2005 .