Wednesday, December 10, 2014

FORMER ROCKVILLE COUNCILMAN CALLS PROPOSED SCHOOL STANDARDS CHANGES "DEATH BLOW" TO CITY'S APFO

Two-term former Rockville City Councilman John Hall testified before the Mayor and Council Monday evening that adopting Montgomery County's weaker policy on school overcrowding would be a "death blow" to the city's Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. Currently, Rockville measures overcrowding at each individual school, and once a school is termed overcrowded, development in that school district is halted.

The proposal by some councilmembers to adopt the county standard, by contrast, would allow an averaging of schools by cluster. Hall pointed to data that suggested averaging would provide a much looser school capacity standard than the current city rules.

Under Montgomery County's APFO, "the most lax and least effective apfo in the entire region," Hall added, individual schools can exceed the supposed 120% overcapacity cap without triggering a development moratorium. At this time in the county, Hall said, 8 public schools exceed 150% of capacity, and 1 is at 180%. "That’s absurd, it’s almost criminal," Hall argued, but it's allowed by cluster averaging methods.

Adopting such a plan, while representing it as a 120% cap on overcrowding, "misleads our parents and residents," he added. Hall urged the council to not act hastily under pressure from developers, and to rely on guidance from the city's Planning Commission.

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