MoCo PTAs Support MOE Fine Waiver

The Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations (MCCPTA) has written the Montgomery County Delegation Chairs, Delegate Brian Feldman (D-15) and Senator Rich Madaleno (D-18), in support of a local bill that would waive Montgomery County's $46 million Maintenance of Effort (MOE) fine for this year's budget. But MCCPTA was careful to distinguish the narrow issue of the fine from discussion of a broader restructuring of the MOE law, which is currently the subject of a different bill. The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), also known as the "800-pound Gorilla of MoCo Politics," also supports waiving the fine but not altering the underlying MOE law. We reprint MCCPTA's letter below.

Senator Richard S. Madaleno
James Senate Office Building, Room 203
11 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401

Delegate Brian J Feldman
House Office Building, Room 223
6 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401

Dear Senator Madaleno and Delegate Feldman,

I am writing on behalf of the Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations (MCCPTA) to urge you to support MC 14-10, Montgomery County Maintenance of Effort Waiver. MCCPTA, with a membership of over 50,000 parents, teachers and students associated with Montgomery County Public Schools, adopted the attached resolution expressing support for this bill in our Delegates Assembly on January 26, 2010.

As an advocate for education in Montgomery County, MCCPTA firmly supports the principle of Maintenance of Effort (MOE) funding for Montgomery Public Schools and all public school systems in the State of Maryland. And we have been fortunate to have a County government that routinely supports our schools beyond the MOE level. However, the unique circumstance surrounding funding for MCPS for fiscal year 2010 has posed a special budgetary problem for Montgomery County. A mistake in the calculation of Maryland state aid for MCPS for fiscal year 2009 resulted in Montgomery County government having to provide a higher than usual portion of funding for MCPS in fiscal year 2009. When this mistake was discovered by the State of Maryland in planning for the fiscal year 2010 budget, the missing funds from fiscal year 2009 became available to fund the fiscal year 2010 MCPS operating budget. In addition, unanticipated federal funding became available, while local revenues fell off sharply. Montgomery County requested a waiver of the MOE requirements of fiscal year 2010, and the MCPS fiscal year 2010 operating budget reflects reliance on the reasonableness of this request. We are now half-way through fiscal year 2010. While MCPS has taken extraordinary measures to economize in light of even-worse-than anticipated revenue collections this year, the $46 million fine for the failure to meet the fiscal year 2010 MOE requirements would result in unacceptable gaps in the education funding for Montgomery County students.

I would like to emphasize that our support for this bill is based on the unusual school budget situation facing MCPS for fiscal year 2010. Our organization supports a one-year-only waiver of the MOE fine. MCCPTA appreciates your efforts on behalf of our children, and look forward to working with you in the future to ensure adequate funding of public education in Montgomery County.
Sincerely,

Kay Romero, President
Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations

Cc: Ms. Patricia O’Neill, President, Montgomery County Board of Education
Ms. Nancy Floreen, President, Montgomery County Council

Enclosure: Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations Resolution Adopted at the January 26, 2010 Delegates Assembly

Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations Resolution Adopted at the January 26, 2010 Delegates Assembly

MC 14-10, Montgomery County Maintenance of Effort for FY2010 Only

Whereas, Montgomery County is seeking a waiver of Maintenance of Effort provisions for FY2010; and

Whereas, the Maryland General Assembly is considering legislation to authorize the MOE waiver for FY2010; and

Whereas, the need for a waiver was derived from a funding shortage from FY2009 and paid in FY2010; therefore, be it

Resolved that MCCPTA supports MC 14-10, Montgomery County Maintenance of Effort for FY2010 only; and be it further

Resolved that this support is based on the unique circumstances for FY 2010’s funding arrangement, caused by the previous year’s erroneous shortfall in state funding; and be it further

Resolved that MCCPTA supports a stringent MOE policy for school funding based on FY2009 funding levels.