Lisa Bass
At its February breakfast meeting, “Eggs and Issues,” the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce hosted School Board member Connie Froggatt and Superintendent Mark Miear to present the “State of Montgomery County Schools” outlining MCPS’s funding sources, strategies and constraints.
As president of the Montgomery County Educational Foundation, Froggatt described the role of the non-profit, public foundation established 40 years ago to provide financial support to MCPS “that enables students, teachers, and administrators to discover, advance, and enhance educational opportunities.”
The foundation was created in 1987, but did nothing she said until the recession a decade ago.
With extreme budget cuts in the 2009-2010 school year, MCEF was re-established and the first grants were awarded in 2012. Last year, $235,000 was awarded to 225 MCPS programs.
Businesses can help MCPS through the MCEF, she said, by volunteering with fundraising event, hosting an event, serve on committees or boards. Donations are greatly appreciated.
Sponsorships of annual grants would help fund programs requesting assistance from MCEF. Having “Partners in Education” would allow more students to intern through work-based learning opportunities.
“There is a ‘Five for Five’ campaign seeking five businesses to donate $5,000 yearly for five years,” Froggatt said.
MCEF wants to build a relationship with companies. Any partnerships with MCEF will have an impact on high quality education in MCPS, which will affect not only students but will also support the parental workforce. Outstanding educational opportunities are the key to attracting top talent to Montgomery County.
MCPS is the second largest employer in the region behind Virginia Tech. The banquet room was full with MCCC members who came to realize they are all stakeholders in public education because it provides for future workforce and affects the economics of the community.
Froggatt described less-well known vagaries of federal education funding.
The federal government provides 3.7 percent of MCPS’ funding for nutrition, special education and Title programs. Some schools in the county do not qualify for Title 1 funds, the federal funding designed to ensure all children have access to a high quality education. MCPS is a leader in the state in Title 1 inclusion.
The state government funding formula is complicated she said and Virginia school districts have complained for years, but there have been no attempts to update the formula to get fair amounts of money to the schools.
Projecting two formulas on the screen for Chamber members to examine, Froggatt explained that the Local Composite Index is used to determine the locality’s ability to pay and is calculated every two years. If the LCI goes up, then the money to MCPS goes down. The second equation is the Average Daily Membership, or ADM, averages the annual enrollment in the school district. So if ADM is up, the money goes up.
The bulk, 87 percent, of school funds come from local government from revenue raised through real estate, personal property and sales tax.
With this year’s real estate reassessment, Montgomery County may generate $7.1 million growth in revenue for which MCPS is requesting an additional $6.15 million she said.
Other funding comes from school programs operated by parents and sports fundraising efforts.
Froggatt said, “When you see those advertisement signs on the baseball fences, that helps raise money.”
For more information about the Montgomery County Education Foundation, visit http://montcoef.org/
