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OAKDALE ADVOCACY
Support school funding
for building and overcrowding specific to our area, or address any other
education concerns.
Guide to
Advocacy Jargon
Advocacy:
Giving aid or active
verbal support for a cause or position.
APFO:
Adequate Public
Facilities Ordinance: Governs how and when new development can take
place in Frederick County based on meeting certain public facilities
criteria (ie, having adequate school capacity before building additional
homes). To see complete copy go to
http://www.co.frederick.md.us/govt/planning/APFO/apfo.html
BOCC: Board
of County Commissioners: Frederick Counties government representatives,
elected by voters. To see their Strategic Planning and Goals go to
www.co.frederick.md.us/BOCC/FY2004StrategicPlan-July31-2003.pdf
BOE: Board of
Education:
A seven-member elected Board of Education sets policy not
otherwise controlled by federal and state laws. It reviews and approves
education budgets that are presented to the Board of County
Commissioners for funding and oversees local education expenditures from
county, state, and federal sources. For more information on the BOE go
to
www.fcps.org/boez.htm
Capital Budget:
New school
construction, major renovations and additions, land purchases and
related costs.
CIP:
Capital Improvement Project: The BOCC develops a 10-year plan that
includes selected school construction, expansion and renovation projects
as well as other government facility, library, water/sewer, parks roads
projects. For more information go to
www.fcps.org/content/publications/CIP.pdf
FCPS:
Frederick County Public Schools: Provides the county an education for
40,000 students in a rapidly growing area that is geographically
Maryland’s largest. Our 60 schools are located in a diverse array of
cities, suburban and rural communities, and serve students in
pre-kindergarten through grade 12. For more information go to
www.fcps.org
House Bill 1663:
Entitled Elementary and Secondary Education – Public School Construction
– State Funding, assures additional state funding to local education
jurisdictions to address their Capital Improvement Project (CIP) needs.
For more information e-mail State Senator Patrick Hogan at
mailto:patrick.hogan@senate.state.md.us
NCLB: No Child Left Behind: A
Education reform designed to improve student achievement and change the
culture of America’s schools. It is an overhaul of federal efforts to
support elementary and secondary education in the United States. For an
online parent’s guide go to
http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/nclbguide/parentsguide.html
New Market Region Plan:
Part of
the County’s Comprehensive Plan and is an official public document
adopted by the BOCC. It is a long-range guide for growth, land use, and
development decisions in the New Market Region. It is also a guide for
other decisions that are related to growth and development and will help
the County determine when and where new public facilities and
improvements are needed. To see the complete plan online go to
www.co.frederick.md.us/planning/pdf/newmarketNOV2003staffdraft.pdf#search='New%20Market%20Region%20Plan'
Operating Budget:
Board of
Education proposes this budget each year to the County Commissioners.
It covers the cost of providing and supporting day-to-day activities in
the schools – instructional materials and supplies, programs and
services, salaries, transportation and technology. Funding from the
county, state and federal governments, grants and interest income
finance the school system’s annual operating expenses. To see this
year’s Fiscal Year 2007 Proposed Operating Budget go to
www.fcps.org/fy07.pdf
NCLB:
No Child Left Behind: A Education reform designed to improve student
achievement and change the culture of America’s schools. It is an
overhaul of federal efforts to support elementary and secondary
education in the United States. For an online parent’s guide go to
http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/nclbguide/parentsguide.html
Advocacy Update
County:
It’s been a busy time for advocacy in
Frederick County. Over the past few months our County Commissioners
have worked on the updated New Market Region Plan, and have received the
results of a transportation study that confirms some of the fears that
our roads are not adequate to handle the new construction being
debated. While no firm decisions have come from the study itself, it
was in part because of the concerns of so many citizens that the study
was conducted to begin with. A great thanks goes to our Commissioners
for spending he time and money to thoroughly look at how the proposed
development will affect our county. So many Oakdale Elementary parents
sent postcards in to our Commissioners that the flurry of activity
opened some welcome doors for discussion with the BOCC.
In addition, the BOCC (Board of County
Commissioners) and the BOE (Board of Education) have been discussing the
proposed Frederick County Public School CIP (Capital Improvement
Project) plan which calls for holding back the Linganore High School
renovations another four years, and re-opening Linganore in 2012.
Oakdale High School has stayed on track to open in the fall of 2008, but
will open as an overcrowded school. As with any major school project, a
delay in their renovations would significantly impact the students in
our school by creating a longer overcrowding issue at the new Oakdale
High School, and would ask parents and students at Linganore High to
wait even longer for serious renovations that are long overdue. OES
families received postcards to send to their Commissioners to ask that
the Linganore High School renovations stay at their original date of
2010. The next BOCC/BOE meeting is scheduled for May 2, 2006 at 7pm at
Urbana High School to discuss the operating budget.
Locally, several text amendments have been
filed that have to do with proposed changes to the APFO (Adequate Public
Facilities Ordinance) which governs how and when new development can
take place in Frederick County based on meeting certain public
facilities criteria (ie, having adequate school capacity before building
additional homes). These amendments could cause additional overcrowding
in our schools, strain our fire, police and rescue services, as well as
unduly congest our roads and communities. At this time there are two
text amendments (AT-05-05 and AT-06-01) that have been written and will
be discussed at a public hearing April 4th by the BOCC 7pm in
Winchester Hall.
State:
At the State level all (education) eyes have
been on House Bill 1663, introduced by Delegate Patrick Hogan. House
Bill 1663, entitled Elementary and Secondary Education – Public School
Construction – State Funding, assures additional state funding to local
education jurisdictions to address their Capital Improvement Project
(CIP) needs. Overcrowding and school renovation needs in Frederick
County is paramount. Nearly half of Frederick County’s public schools
are at or above capacity, and for the last several years this has been
one of the fastest growing counties in the State of Maryland – and our
high growth rate continues. The Frederick County Public Schools and PTA
gave testimony in Annapolis to support this bill on March 22nd,
and many OES parents sent e-mails to their representatives asking for
their support.
National:
Finally, on the national front, the
President’s 2007 Federal budget was presented in February and included
an overall 5.5% decrease in funding for many of the programs that are
essential to No Child Left Behind. These include special education and
gifted education funding, parent involvement, dropout prevention,
school counseling, funding for vocational programs, and dozens of other
targeted programs. In
a stunning victory for the education and health communities, the Senate
voted on March 17th to add more than $16 billion to President George W.
Bush's fiscal year 2007 (FY07) budget request.
After several days of intense
lobbying by education, child advocacy, and health organizations, as well
as substantial grassroots mobilization, the Senate adopted an amendment
introduced by Sens. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Tom Harkin of Iowa
to increase discretionary funding in the FY07 budget resolution (S.Con.Res.
83). In a
73-27 vote, the Senate increased discretionary funding by $7 billion
"in order to fund health, education and training, and low-income
programs." If enacted, the $7 billion increase would restore funding for
education and health programs to fiscal year 2005 levels.
What can you do right now?
Thank your representatives for listening to
your concerns! You can find the links to all of our local, state and
national representatives on this website.
Write, call or e-mail the BOCC to express
your concerns over the APFO text amendments (AT-05-05 and AT-06-01).
Attend meetings.
Our Advocacy Strength
is in our Participating Oakdale families!!!!!
Contact list of federal,
state and local officials:
http://www.co.frederick.md.us/Elections/ElectedOfficals2003.htm |
