WHERE IS THE OVERSIGHT AT MCPS?
By Joan Fidler
Montgomery County has a public school system that is a $3 billion high risk enterprise with 160,000 students and 27,000 staff. What are we as taxpayers and more important, our children getting for this $3+ billion? Where is the oversight? Where are the results? The part time Board of Education has failed miserably. Are there any other Beidleman fiascos hidden in the underbelly of the school system?
Do we really expect 2 FTEs in the County’s IG Office to oversee what appears to be an ungovernable organization? A structural change is the only solution.
We need an independent MCPS Inspector General with full statutory rights to review, investigate and oversee the governance of this $3 billion enterprise –
- An IG that can investigate complaints,
- An IG that can review outcomes for heavily funded programs,
- An IG that can check for internal controls,
- An IG that can ensure that the Board receives data and information unfiltered by unelected bureaucrats,
- An IG that can question sole source contracts,
- An IG that can compel the Board to comply with its findings and recommendations,
- In sum, an IG that can hold the system accountable.
The Montgomery County Taxpayers League asks the County Council to work with state legislators to establish an independent IG at MCPS.
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Joan Fidler is a Board member and former President of the Montgomery County Taxpayers League, a non-partisan 501c3 volunteer organization that advocates for effective and efficient government. To learn about the work of MCTL: https://www.mctaxpayersleague.org/