Parent Talk Presents a Round Table Discussion: A Budget Crisis For Prince George's County Public Schools

Part Two

PARENT TALK “LIVE”

HOSTED BY: MIKE ROBINSON

Date: 2/21/11

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm

Call-In Number- (914) 803.4591

Website: Parent Talk Live

Parent Talk Presents a Round Table Discussion: A Budget Crisis For Prince George's County Public Schools with:

• Tonya V. Wingfield, Founder and Executive Director of Nehemiah's Vision




• Khadijah “Moon” Ali-Coleman an award-winning journalist




• Jennifer Harris author of PGD9Politico, a blog that focuses on keeping Prince George's County politicians accountable for their decisions and voters.

This is a show for parents and educators to share their views. We want you to call in and express your views and opinions.

Governor O’Malley recently released his proposed FY 2012 budget and it contained a dramatic reduction in education funding. According to Governor O’Malley’s budget education will lose more than 90 million dollars in funding. With such a dramatic cut in education allocations it is bound to have a very unpleasant trickle down effect.

One such impact from the Governor’s budget shaving is the FY2012 budget of Prince George's County Public Schools. The reduction in state education funding will cost Prince George's County Public Schools as much as 20.9 million dollars in revenue and thus create a 2.4% or 85 million budget gap. As a result of the budget deficit Superintendent Dr. William R. Hite proposed a budget with the elimination of over 1,100 county employees to include teachers.

Panelist will discuss:

• Recent survey regarding PGCPS budget
• Central office reductions
• Reduction of teachers
• Cutting transportation to Speciality Programs
• Cutting Guidance Counselors
• Making Pre-K 1/2 a day
• as well as other topics you would like to discuss

At a February 10, 2011 budget hearing more than 120 teachers, staff, parents and members of the community came to voice their various concerns about the proposed budget cuts and to advocate for their programs. Programs such as Reading-Recovery and critical staff positions as media specialists were clearly presented as a line of demarcation for many in attendance.

The proposed budget presented by Dr. Hite to the BOE has ignited a fervor that has seen the discussion of the possibility of increase class sizes for a second year and a major staff layoff permeate local social media discussion.

Here to provide an assessment of the proposed FY 2012 school budget are three leading community and media experts.

Tonya V. Wingfield

Founder & Executive Director

Nehemiah's Vision, Inc.

Tonya V. Wingfield is the Founder and Executive Director of Nehemiah's Vision, Inc. (NEVI). Prior to establishing NEVI, she worked for over 20 years as an IT training consultant supporting mid-to-large size law firms, government agencies and non-profit organizations. She is an Adjunct Faculty Member at Prince George's Community College where she teaches computer classes as part of the college's Workforce Development Training Program.

Khadijah Ali-Coleman

Founder

Liberated Muse Productions

Khadijah “Moon” Ali-Coleman is an award-winning journalist who has served the Washington DC metropolitan area for more than six years, covering education, political and arts news for online, print and broadcast media. Her articles have appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines, including East of the River, The Washington Informer, District Chronicles, The Baltimore Times, The Afro and The Hill Rag. Nationally, her work has been read on online sites, including SoulTrain.com, the award-winning music blog SoulBounce.com, and the national news site Examiner.com where she writes as the DC Community Issues Examiner.

Jennifer Harris

Political Analysts

PGD9Politico

Jennifer Harris is the author of PGD9Politico, a blog that focuses on keeping Prince George's County politicians accountable for their decisions and voters informed of the facts about their county government. She began blogging last fall, after participating as a volunteer communications manager for the campaign of Tamara Davis Brown, who ran unsuccessfully for County Council in District 9. After knocking on thousands of doors and speaking to hundreds of voters, she felt an urgency to raise awareness about the importance of voting in local elections, where political decisions have the biggest impact on issues people really care about: schools, public safety, transportation, and their quality of life.