In: BOE, Community Feedback, County Council, Education & Culture, Government, Local Government, MCPS, Montgomery County Police Department, Policing, Public Funding, Public Safety, Safety, School Funding, Special Education, Transportation

April 8th, 2024 – This testimony was given to the County Council on the FY2025 operating budget Hello my name is Jason Makstein and I run the blog Moderately MOCO but today I am testifying as a community advocate about various items in the operating budgets. My focus will beContinue Reading

In: County Council, District Court, Lawsuits, Local Government, Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Parks and Planning, Planning Board

March 13, 2024 In September 2023, the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found misconduct of one of the County Council employees. The letter from the OIG stated that $11,490 of reservation fees were obtained and never paid for: “The investigation revealed that in 2022 and 2023, theContinue Reading

In: Community Feedback, Community Reports, County Council, Local Government, Montgomery County Police Department, Policing, Public Safety

March 8, 2024 This was sent in as a follow up to Opinion: Defending Effective Policing: The Case Against Restricting Consent Searches and Bill 2-24 – Moderately MOCO following the County Council Public Hearing on the bill. Any councilmember who is for Councilmember Jawando’s Bill 2-24 must be prepared toContinue Reading

In: Local Government, MCPS, MCPS Enrollment, School Funding

Background and Source Data The state of Maryland reports on per-pupil expenditures Maryland reports on per-pupil expenditures and defines them as follows: “School-level per-pupil expenditures are local education agency (LEA) operating expenditures directly attributed to schools or allocated to schools based on certain criteria and reported as a per-pupil orContinue Reading

In: BOE, Boundary Study, Construction, County Council, Local Government, MCPS, School, School Project

March 1, 2024 On 2/27/24 MCPS went over some upcoming boundary study updates at the board of education Facilities and Boundaries work session meeting. See the full video here or read below for a summary and to see the images. Note that as this was a discussion and work session,Continue Reading

In: Enrollment, Government, Local Government, Maryland, MCPS, MCPS Enrollment, Research, School

February 25, 2024 Background and Source Data Public school enrollment numbers by Maryland county and by school level was determined for the school years: 2019-2020 was the last pre-pandemic school year, 2023-2024 is the current school year. School levels are: Data sources are official enrollment from the State of Maryland.Continue Reading

In: Community Feedback, Community Reports, County Council, Local Government, Montgomery County Police Department, Policing, Public Safety

February 23, 2024 Councilmember Jawando introduced Bill 2-24 to prohibit police from searching a vehicle when the driver specifically consents to the search. Consent searches are an important tool for police to address serious crime. When police reduce discretionary enforcement, such as traffic stops, violent crime rises. The Montgomery CountyContinue Reading