BOE Hiding Revenue from Council and State (No wonder BOE wants to get rid of State Audits!)

MCPS FY17 Operating Budget

The Parents' Coalition has confirmed that the Montgomery County Board of Education is hiding revenue from the County Council and from the State legislature.

The revenue that is not being reported in the Montgomery County Public Schools Operating Budget is the millions (?) of dollars collected from students, parents and guardians for class fees.

We know that the Board of Education allows local schools to collect class fees because we have obtained a list of the fees every year since 2008.  The fees are not a secret.

When we asked where the fees are accounted for in the MCPS Operating Budget, we learned that the fees do not show up in the public budget documents.

Lots of other student fees do show up in the budget.  For example, summer school fees, student activity fees, and lunch purchases.  Yet, when a student pays $40 to take a class at Thomas Edison High School of Technology, that $40 never shows up in the MCPS Operating Budget.  Some would say those payments are being "made under the table."

How much is the Board of Education collecting in class fees?  How is the money that is collected spent?   

Some of the 2016 class fees being charged at Edison HS

This isn't the first time that the Parents' Coalition has discovered unreported revenue being hidden by the Board of Education.  In 2009, we uncovered over $21 million in unreported funding from the federal government.  

What else is the Board of Education hiding?  

Now you can understand why the Board of Education voted to support legislation to get rid of the mandated state audits of MCPS.   

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