Support Immersion and Magnet Programs in Montgomery County!

OVERVIEW

Montgomery County is distinguished among US school districts in its provision of language immersion programs and a variety of other special programs to its children.  These programs serve more than 250 children annually in the Spanish immersion program at Rock Creek Forest Elementary School and hundreds of others at the immersion programs at Rolling Terrace, Sligo Creek, College Gardens, Potomac, Maryvale, and Burnt Mills Elementary Schools.  Thousands more students are stimulated and challenged by their experiences at the Centers for the Highly Gifted, IB programs and other magnets. 

The Montgomery County Council prides itself on being "a good place to live" (MC press release, 1/7/2010).  One of the findings of the recent independent survey posted on the MCPS website was that 84% of those surveyed rated Montgomery County educational opportunities as excellent or good.* We are certain that this high rating is due, in part, to the high quality options available to MCPS students, including immersion, gifted and talented, and other magnets.  Immersion instruction results in bilingual Montgomery county residents -- a necessity in our global society and in our diverse county.

The FY 2011 Operating Budget Summary of Potential Budget Reductions, released in December 2009, lists the following potential cuts specific to immersion and other special programs: **

C. Special program teachers - Reduce by 20 percent additional positions allocated to support special programs, including immersion, magnet, IB, signature, and other special programs. Currently, there are 64.6 special program teachers. (Reduced by 16.9 positions in FY 2010)  (savings of 12.9 FTE and $832,487)

H. Transportation for optional regular education programs - Eliminate transportation to optional regular education programs outside normal attendance zones, including magnet, immersion, IB, high school consortia, and other special programs. Fees are not permitted for these services. This reduction would not impact special education transportation. (savings of 65 FTE and $4,900,000)

Additionally, this applies to all schools:

L. Purchase fewer textbooks and instructional materials by eliminating the budgeted 6 percent inflationary increase in this category.  (savings of $1,650,000)

Without busing, immersion programs are not likely to survive, since students come from all parts of our county and many parents work and would not be able to transport their children.  At Rock Creek Forest alone, students live in 25 out of the 40 county zip codes, some at distances of greater than 20 miles.  Furthermore, busing cuts unfairly penalize single parent families and families with two working parents, who would not be able to transport their children.  With reduced staffing and instructional materials, the quality of our programs is likely to be compromised.

Immersion programs and other special programs are invaluable components of the high quality education that Montgomery County provides its residents.  Please allow our children to continue to benefit from the outstanding educational journeys they have begun. 

*http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/csltmpl.asp?url=/Content/Council/index.asp

** (full document available on http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/budget/ under %u201CPossible areas for reduction%u201D)

PETITION

We, the undersigned, call on the Montgomery County Council to fully fund Superintendent Weast's Recommended  FY2011 Operating Budget for Montgomery County Public Schools so as to preserve funding for magnet immersion programs at Rock Creek Forest Elementary School and other schools as well as Centers for the Highly Gifted, IB and other magnet programs.  Specifically, we request that: 

1) Busing for magnet programs continue. If buses are cut, the programs will not be open to all students in the county, only those with parents who can arrange transportation. We believe this will favor wealthier families. At Rock Creek Forest, we have children from all over the county, including Boyds, Clarksburg, Montgomery Village and Burtonsville.

2) Funding for on-site program coordinators be maintained at current levels.  Magnet programs offer a unique service and require ongoing coordination in the form of an on-site staff member to enable teachers to teach effectively given the environment of limited instructional materials and language resources.

3) Funding for instructional materials be maintained. As it is, immersion schools do not receive additional funds for books in both languages.  This means that although twice as many books must be purchased due to the two languages of instruction, immersion programs receive the same budget for materials as traditional schools.  As a result, children enrolled at a school with an immersion program, whether they are enrolled in the immersion program or in their home school, have fewer titles at their disposal. A cut in the instructional materials budget would worsen an already unfair situation.

Thank you for maintaining the diverse opportunities provided by Montgomery County Public Schools by fully funding the FY2011 MCPS Operating Budget request.