Budget cuts could endanger Magnet

Shrinking government revenues are leading some supporters of the Blair Math, Science and Computer Science Magnet program to worry that recent countywide demands for program justification represent a threat to the Magnet's future.

Magnet Coordinator Eileen Steinkraus worries that the Magnet could become a target in the county's search to make budget cuts. In what MCPS spokesman Brian Porter called "a system-wide review for all programs," Steinkraus has been asked to answer 16 questions concerning the original purpose of the program and how it has fulfilled that purpose.

Porter does not think that the required survey should be cause for concern. "All programs are going through internal justification," Porter said. "It doesn't mean funding will be cut."

But Matt Nisenoff, an aide to Montgomery County Council President Blair Ewing, is less optimistic. "Things are going to be tighter," he said. "Everybody is going to have to compete for the money there is." Nisenoff added that the budget crisis "could be a very real threat" to the county's specialty programs.

According to Porter, because of the county's economic downturn since Sept 11, the school system will incur revenue loss in the tens of millions of dollars.

Superintendent Jerry Weast has proposed a budget of $105.8 million for next year—$53 million less than had been planned, according to The Gazette.

Given the county's weakening economy in conjunction with its
growing population, Steinkraus suspects that county officials will compensate by cutting down on magnet funding. "They always look at us for a place to save money," she said.

Adding to Steinkraus' fears is a movement in Congress to consolidate federal and state money which could affect magnet funding. Federal funds that were previously designated explicitly for the Magnet would, under this plan, be mixed in with the rest of the state money and redistributed by state officials without regard to the specific earmarks.

Tucker suspects that if given the opportunity to reassign federal money that had been earmarked for the Magnet, MCPS would not see the program as a high priority. "People either don't recognize or don't appreciate what the money spent on the program gets the county as a whole," Tucker explained. "No, we're not spending all this money for just 400 kids—we're spending this money to develop a state-of-the-art, innovative program that leads the way for other high schools."

Blair's CAP program is not in danger of losing funding, according to program coordinator Dolores D'Angelo, because there is no funding to be lost. Although CAP does receive money to pay for substitutes and a computer aide, the office of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction at MCPS funds the program primarily with grants. This means that state budget cuts will have little impact on the CAP program. "I know there are hard times coming up," D'Angelo said, "but I don't foresee a major impact on CAP because we don't have a budget."

Magnet supporters believe that, when closely evaluated, the program should be able to prove its worth. They do worry that MCPS officials, who have been subject to a high turnover rate in the past two years, will too quickly forget the changes the program has brought about at Blair. "As new people come into leadership positions, it's important that we keep informing those people about the program," Tucker said.

Throughout the recent changes in school board officers and in the county economy, citizen opposition to the Magnet has remained steady and consistent. Since the early 1980s, when magnets in the Blair area began, the programs have had a fragile base of support. Because magnet programs provide certain schools and their students with additional resources, some argue that the magnets are unfair.

Karin Chenoweth, an education columnist for The Washington Post, thinks that magnets give an unfair advantage to students who already have the advantage of being gifted. "I consider that the obligation of the public schools is to educate all students, and the real reason to have specialized programs is not to provide extra resources to our most easy-to-teach students," she said.

Principal Phillip Gainous disagrees, noting that Blair's special programs increase rather than decrease the school's resources. "Those programs bring in money from another pot that we otherwise would not have had access to," Gainous said.

Tucker agrees that people outside of the Magnet can reap its benefits: Blair students can take magnet electives, and teachers or administrators from any school can receive training from Steinkraus.

Gainous trusts that MCPS will not cut magnet funding regardless of economic conditions, because he thinks the county has enough evidence of the benefits of keeping the program intact. "When you get a program that's making a positive impact," he said, "you don't quit on the program."

Tucker agrees with Gainous' reasoning but remains wary about the Magnet's future. "Part of me says that it would be so illogical to do something to this program," she said. "But such pressure and competition for scarce resources makes things that would otherwise be illogical possible."