Category: Budget and Funding

Online Poll Shows Little Support for Property Tax Increase

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by Genevieve Demos Kelley

County Council Member Mel Franklin (Democrat, District 9, Council Chair) has invited residents to take a one-question, online poll regarding the proposed 15.6% property tax increase to fund Prince George’s County Public Schools. As of 8:11 am this morning, 549 out of 630 respondants answered that they opposed the proposed property tax increase. Only 5.3% of 630 respondants stated that they support the property tax increase outright, with 7.4% indicating that they would be willing to consider a smaller increase

While these numbers are certainly suggestive, we should be cautious about interpreting the survey results as representative of the views of county residents. Opponents of the tax increase have promoted the poll through social media and email. Hence the group of 630 respondants is far from being a random sample of voters; it is a self-selected group that may not accurately represent the opinions of voters in Prince Goerge’s County.

Screen capture of poll results.

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The Post’s View: A Turnaround Plan for Prince George’s County

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From the Washington Post editorial board, published May 6, 2015.

For the complete editorial piece, go here.

EVER SINCE he announced his audacious turnaround plan for Prince George’s County’s public schools — with 125,000 students, one of the nation’s 25 biggest systems — County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), until now one of Maryland’s most popular local officials, has become a political punching bag.

Yet none of his critics — neither the unhinged ones, who suggest Mr. Baker has ulterior motives, nor the calmer ones, who worry that taxpayers cannot afford sharply higher property taxes to raise teacher salaries and standards — has proposed an alternative to put the county’s struggling schools on a level playing field with the regional competition. Nor has anyone disagreed that doing so is essential to the county’s children and its future.

Read the whole story at the Washington Post.

Why You Should Consider Attending the May 7 or May 11 Board of Education Community Discussion

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BOE Invest in PGCPS Flyer

by Genevieve Demos Kelley

If you have questions and concerns about the Board of Education’s requested operating budget for FY 2016, consider attending either the May 7 or May 11 community discussion with the Board of Education. (For locations and more details, see the flyer.) I attended the first in the series of three meetings on April 27, and I was pleased with how worthwhile it turned out to be.

First, let me qualify my enthusiasm just a bit: Not every moment was a valuable use of my time. The meeting was in two parts. It started with at least 30 minutes of vague generalities about the school system’s core values and mission, and comments about the need for full funding of the FY2016 budget. The substantive information gleaned from this portion of the meeting could have been easily squeezed into five minutes. (Fortunately, I had brought my hard copy of the requested operating budget, so I had material to study when my attention waned.)

We heard about the CEO’s plans to spend the additional $91.7 million requested in the amended budget, but they were so vague that they were essentially meaningless. Here’s how he wants to spend the money:

  • Academic Excellence
  • High-performing workforce
  • Safe and Supportive Environments
  • Family and Community Engagement
  • Additional Priorities

See what I mean?

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The Amended Requested FY2016 Budget: Where Are the Additional 91.7 Million Dollars Going?

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IMG_6355by Genevieve Demos Kelley

The Board of Education’s requested operating budget is $1.93 billion. That’s an increase of $135.7 million or 7.6% over the Fiscal Year 2015 approved operating budget. Moreover, this amended budget exceeds the CEO’s original proposed budget for FY2016 by $91.7 million. How will the additional $91.7 million be spent? The CEO has outlined four areas that will absorb the additional funding, should the requested budget be approved — Academic Excellence, High-Performing Workforce, Family and Community Engagement, Safe and Supportive Environments — plus an assortment of “additional priorities.” In a March 17, 2015 presentation to the County Council, those areas were broken down into subcategories with specific dollar amounts attached to each. Continue reading →

PGCPS Parent Urges School System to Look for Ways to Save Money

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The following is a statement to be delivered by Tommi Makila at the Prince George’s County Council Budget Hearing on April 28, 2015. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the owner of this website, Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools.

Good evening,

My name is Tommi Makila. I live in Accokeek, and my son attends Prince George’s County Public Schools. I am a PTA activist and heavily involved in my son’s school.

First of all, I consider improving our schools a high priority. Thus, I want to commend the County Executive for making our schools a high priority. However, I have serious concerns about the school budget proposal.

I believe the goals and strategies outlined in the County Executive’s school budget proposal make sense and seem likely to strengthen the school system and improve its performance. However, what seems to be lacking in the proposal is any serious effort to seek savings to fund the new proposals. When you ask for a significant investment in certain areas – significant enough to warrant a 15% property tax increase – I believe you also have the responsibility to look for meaningful savings opportunities in other areas of the budget. Our goal should be to try to minimize, or even eliminate, the need for a property tax increase. Just like any other organization, we will need to prioritize issues.

InstructionalExpendituresChart

Graph Credit: Tom Dernoga

To substantiate my belief that there is room in the school budget to prioritize items without sacrificing our investment in the classroom, I want to point out a couple of facts about the school budget. Between FY2003 and FY2015, total school system expenditures have risen by 685 million. During the same time period, instructional salaries have only risen by 156 million1.

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Prince George’s Association for TAG Supports County Executive’s Proposal to Fund PGCPS

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IMG_6359The following is a statement from the board of the Prince George’s Association for Talented and Gifted Education, republished here with permission. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the owner of this website, Prince George’s County Advocates for Better Schools (PGCABS).

To view this statement on the PGTAG website, go here.

Statement from PGTAG Board

Supporting the County Executive’s  FY’2015-16 Budget to Fund PGCPS’ Strategic Plan

April 12, 2015

Prince George’s County Association for Talented and Gifted Education

(PGTAG), during its April board meeting, agreed to support County Executive Rushern Baker’s fiscal year 2015-16 budget to fund PGCPS’ strategic plan.

For far too long, our school system has been requesting only the local funding for what it thought it might receive vs. what is really required to improve the quality of PGCPS. This practice of requesting the minimal funding needed to continue with the status quo is called “maintenance of effort.”

Our students deserve more than “maintenance of effort.”  This constricted funding stream for our public education system has denied PGCPS the ability to gain momentum on a host of educational priorities critically needed to create and maintain the kind of quality education system that is needed for the children of our county.

We don’t take our decision making—to support funding the budget through the lifting of our local property tax cap—lightly. But the cap is partially to blame for our limited success in the past. The four-decades long cap on property taxes means that we’ve been funding schools at the same percentage of dollars as we were in 1978.

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Prince George’s Schools CEO Says Tax Hike Will Lift Schools

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From WUSA9, reported by Scott Broom, April 22, 2015.

For the complete story, go here.

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (WUSA9) — “It’s as much as a guarantee as I can give you,” said Prince George’s County Schools CEO Kevin Maxwell when asked about his strategic plan for Prince George’s County Schools.

Maxwell’s plan promises to lift the county’s long-suffering school system from near the bottom of state ranks to within the top-10 by 2020.

Not a single member of the Council has committed to support the tax proposal which will be voted on in the county budget by June 1.

Click here to continue reading and to watch the video coverage at the WUSA9 site.