Regarding the afterschool funding ($50,000 for elementary and $50,000 for middle schools) that the Board added to the budget in FY 2020, please provide the board with the changes that will be made so that the funding will go to schools without access to after school funding.

Question#: 36

ANSWER:

On February 12, 2019, the Board of Education approved two amendments to the FY 2020 Superintendent’s Recommended Operating Budget related to funding allocations for extra-curricular activities. The amendments below were memorialized in the February 12, 2019, Fiscal Year 2020 Operating Budget Adoption memorandum to the Board:

  • Addition of after school activity funds for Focus elementary schools for a total of $50,000.
  • Addition of after school activity funds for secondary schools for a total of $50,000.

A review of the February 12, 2019, Board meeting revealed extensive discussion related to allocating funds to secondary vs. middle school. Based on the Board discussion, it was recommended that the allocation of funds at the secondary level go to middle schools, only, as high schools have several other funding sources.  In November 2019, initial allocations were made to elementary and middle schools with the highest levels of poverty. Through this process, staff collected information indicating that many of these schools had an abundance of after school activities that were funded through district allocations and/or outside partnerships. Moving forward, the MCPS central office will work collaboratively to conduct a comprehensive study of how schools are accessing after school activity funds to provide enrichment activities for students and develop a systemwide plan to provide the needed resources to schools with limited or no after school activities.