Office of the Superintendent of Schools
MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Rockville, Maryland
April 9, 2003
MEMORANDUM
To:
Members of the Board of Education
From:
Jerry D. Weast, Superintendent of Schools
Subject:
FY 2004 Budget Reductions in the Office of Global Access Technology
As part of the Montgomery County Public Schools Program Efficiency, Abandonment, and
Redirection (PEAR) process, the Office of Global Access Technology (OGAT) has cut a total of
$1,096,913 from the FY 2004 Operating Budget. In addition, $1,907,760 was realigned within
OGAT to ensure that priority technology initiatives were funded, including the information
gathering and reporting being required under No Child Left Behind. These OGAT reductions
and realignments are part of a series of actions that have been taken to address the potential
shortfall in next year’s budget.
The PEAR reductions will affect 15 OGAT project areas that serve both schools and offices.
Included in these cuts are the next phase of the data warehouse project, application systems
training, system security software for intrusion detection, Print Shop services, student and
business legacy system improvements, Web service supports, and resources for audiovisual
equipment loaned to schools. Each project-affected area is described in the attached report.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mr. Larry Bowers at 301-279-3626 or
Mr. John Q. Porter at 301-279-3581.
JDW:vnb
Attachment
Copy to:
Executive Staff
Program Efficiency, Abandonment, and Reduction (PEAR)
FY 2004 PEAR Reductions & Impact for the Office of Global Access Technology
In FY 2004, the Office of Global Access Technology (OGAT) has cut a total of $1,096,913
through the Program Efficiency, Abandonment, and Reduction (PEAR) process. This includes a
reduction in staffing of 8.0 positions. Fifteen project areas are affected by these cuts. These
project areas and the impacts on services are described below.
Data Warehouse
This reduction would eliminate a position and contractual funding for the Data Warehouse
project. Activities that would be eliminated due to the loss of the position include development
of training requirements, project related documentation, and system testing. The contractual
funding represents a reduction of programming and other technical support for the Data
Warehouse project.
The Data Warehouse system is being developed for decision support in strategic analysis,
planning, and demonstration of shared accountability to the citizens of Montgomery County.
The project supports the “Call to Action” Trendbender: Developing a System of Shared
Accountability, which has as its purpose to ensure our students achieve at ever higher levels of
performance.
This reduction is $187,418 in total. Eighty-eight thousand, nine hundred three dollars is for
salary, $17,782 is for fringe benefits, and $80,733 is for contractual services.
The position provides subject matter expertise, assistance with documentation, training, and
testing. Other staff assigned to the Data Warehouse project will have to subsume many of these
responsibilities. Other resources, such as consultants and other OGAT staff, also would have to
provide periodic support to assist with the duties currently performed by this resource.
The contractual services support represents an actual reduction in services that cannot be covered
with other resources. The project will experience a reduction in the scope of the project or an
extension of the timelines for completing the project. If other OGAT resources are used to
perform the duties of the position, there will be an impact on other staff within the Division of
Applications Development. Due to the reduction of other staff within this division, the impact
will be extremely difficult to absorb.
This reduction will impact the accomplishment of two Board of Education policies. The first
policy affected is Policy AFA – Educational Accountability, which states, Educational
accountability includes those activities which have as their primary intent to provide a school
district’s Board of Education, superintendent, administrators, and teachers with information
they need to make informed decisions. The second policy affected is Policy IGS – Educational
Technology section B.2.c) Effective Management of Education, which states, Effective
management of education requires that student performance and background data be available
to administrators and teachers on demand.
Deployment of Outlook Web Access to Schools
The project deploying Outlook Web Access to the schools entails the e-mail conversion of all
school staff from FirstClass to Exchange. Currently, we are transitioning non-school based
offices to the use of Exchange/Outlook for e-mail. The long-term plan was to extend this to the
schools. Because of the size of our network, this deployment would involve expenditures for
more Exchange servers, Outlook Web Access servers, software, and user training.
Outlook Web Access would allow teachers the ability to view their Exchange e-mail via a Web
interface called “Outlook Web Access.”
This endeavor would improve services for
approximately 18,000 FirstClass users as they are migrated to this new e-mail system. In
addition, Exchange provides more functionality than FirstClass, such as calendaring.
We had anticipated transitioning the office staff at the schools to the full Outlook client on their
PCs. The reduction of this project would mean that school staff would remain on the FirstClass
system and that OGAT would continue to support both Exchange and FirstClass.
This deployment would involve expenditures for more Exchange servers, Outlook Web Access
servers, software, user training, and temporary part-time support. The total associated costs are
$88,701. We would be reducing $10,000 in software and integration costs, $46,700 in user
training costs, and $32,001 in equipment costs.
The current services would be maintained by continuing with Outlook/Exchange for non-school
based offices only and with FirstClass e-mail for the schools. The impact is a delay in bringing
schools onto the same system that is used by non-school-based staff. This means central office
staff will have to use two different e-mail systems and will have to be aware of how they send email messages to various audiences. This could cause some problems in communication.
The MCPS units that will be directly affected by cutting the deployment of Outlook/ Exchange
to the schools are all staff located in schools that have MCPS e-mail access using FirstClass.
However, the units indirectly affected are all non-school-based staff that will have to switch back
and forth between e-mail systems. We have not discussed this potential reduction with our
e-mail users.
Facilities Renovation
Facilities renovation funds are used to assist schools and offices in moves, adds, and changes to
rooms and offices. Many of these are relocations of offices associated with reorganization of
MCPS. While many of these are planned, some occur quickly to accommodate the demands of
our organization. This reduction lowers the requested amount for facilities renovations by
$20,000 leaving a balance of $90,000.
Typically facilities renovations have been on the increase as changes to the MCPS organizational
structure are implemented. Ninety thousand dollars will still be available to complete those
moves currently in the planning stage. Some of these renovations might be able to be covered
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through other program funds, but this will reduce the amount available for regular maintenance.
No productivity improvements can be realized to offset this reduction. Additional funds will
need to be identified if an office change or relocation is critical during the FY 2004 budget year.
Field Installation – Testing and Installation
Funds for installation and testing are used by staff in support of new initiatives in OGAT
divisions and in other MCPS offices. This reduction reduces the unit’s ability to respond to
initiatives that have not been identified at the time of this budget planning. Contractual costs for
testing and installation will be cut by $20,000. This reduces the requested funding of $50,000 to
$30,000 for currently identified projects.
Funds would be available to support the projects currently identified in planning documents.
However, no additional projects could be added at a later date, as typically happens. If testing
and installation are required, funding will need to be provided by the units that are requesting
these services. No productivity improvements are associated with this reduction.
This reduction will not adversely impact current services available for identified projects either
in progress or planned. It is not known what offices will be requesting services. Given sufficient
lead-time, staff could supply requestors with a detailed account of the funds that would be
needed to provide them with testing and installation services.
Instructional Technology Training
The Instructional Technology Specialists position in the Department of End User Support
assigned responsibility for application and operations training will be eliminated as part of the
budget reductions for FY 2004. One Instructional Technology Specialist (BD) position in the
Department of End User Support that is assigned responsibility for application and operations
training would be reduced. The training for business and student applications will be distributed
among the remaining instructional technology specialists in the Department of End User
Support. Part-time staff also may be used to supplement these functions.
The productivity improvement will be the development of e-learning training components that
will allow us to enhance staff learning with less dependence on direct instructional staff. This
will include use of video taped lessons, Web based learning segments, and self-directed learning
guides. We also will enhance the built in help functions in the product and ensure help desk staff
is available to support the e-learning process as well as the product.
The major impact is that training is a critical step in the timeline for rolling out applications to
users. Having dedicated resources assigned to the training function ensures that training is
developed, scheduled, and conducted in alignment with application delivery schedules. The
remaining staff may not have sufficient time to meet the delivery schedule, which would cause
delays in training end users. Therefore, the impact may be a delay in the actual start-up time for
using an application if sufficient resources are not available to provide training.
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All offices and schools who are users of business and student systems will be impacted by the
reduction in staff to provide training. In addition the Division of Applications Development will
be impacted by the timeline for delivery of training associated with product rollout. The
Division of User Support help desk staff will play a larger roll in supporting business and student
applications. The Technology Modernization (Tech Mod) program, implemented by the
Division of Field Operations, will be impacted by this reduction in that this staff person had
supported training associated with new off-the-shelf software being rolled into the schools. The
affected units have not been directly consulted regarding the lack of this position.
Integrating Technology in the Classroom
This reduction proposes to cut funding for activities related to the development of software and
equipment requirements for instructional users of technology in schools and for timely
distribution of the software selected. These proposed reductions involve elimination of funding
for teacher stipends, teacher substitutes, and supportive services temporary part-time
employment. Funding is used to support the instructional integration component of the Tech
Mod Program.
We propose reduction of $5,000 for stipends and $3,840 for substitutes and support services
temporary part-time employment. This reduction would eliminate our entire request for stipend,
substitute, and part-time funding to support this initiative. There are no other funds for stipends
and substitutes in the OGAT operating budget to continue these activities. Stipend and substitute
dollars in the amount of $12,859.33 were used for this purpose in FY 2002, funded from the K12 budget.
Funding is used for stipends and substitutes for teachers participating in information gathering
about the effective use of technology in the classroom, conducting needs assessments related to
the educational specifications for the configuration of technology provided through the Tech
Mod program, and to conduct follow-up to Tech Mod related to how technology is making a
difference in student achievement.
There are no other funds for stipends and substitutes in the OGAT operating budget to continue
this activity. The continuing rapid advancement of technology requires user input into the
perceived usefulness of various products that could improve teaching and learning and enhance
student productivity. User requirements are needed to support planning related to modernizing
or replacing aging and obsolete equipment and software in schools and administrative offices.
These activities support the assessment of new technologies and their use in the educational
environment. Teachers also help us develop future Tech Mod planning and they provide insights
into cost effective uses of technology. This initiative directly supports the integration of
technology into instruction through the gathering of instructional technology requirements.
Finally, these activities allow for teacher input into the services provided by the End User
Support Department.
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Schools will not have a process for providing input into which instructional technologies they
would like to integrate into their instructional program. Schools also may experience delays in
the integration of software enhancements they are counting on to help them improve student
achievement. The Division of Field Operations will have limited information about technology
requirements to inform design considerations affecting hardware selection and system
configuration for Tech Mod. The affected units have not been directly consulted regarding the
reduction of these funds.
Intrusion Detection Software / System Security
This budget reduction would eliminate the purchase of intrusion detection software for added
system security. This intrusion detection software would give us the ability to know when a
person, virus, or errant process has deleted, damaged, or changed MCPS educational data and
information. The software is called “TripWire.” The total cost of the software is $61,664, to be
financed over three years. The amount planned to be expended during FY 2004 was $21,367
(the first year financing payment).
These specific services cannot be maintained with existing resources. While the information
security protection program currently has network intrusion detection implemented, the focus is
on the deployment of host/server based intrusion detection. The network and server based
intrusion detection system protects specific functions and does not ensure the integrity of
individual data files or assist in the recovery of lost information.
The impact to MCPS is the inability to evaluate the extent of damage to critical systems caused
by a hacker, virus, or system failure. This inability may cause loss of information, delay in
recovery of disaster, and cost the system an undetermined amount of money and loss in time by
staff in the event of a massive virus attack such as “Code Red” or the “I love you” virus. All
OGAT critical systems and applications are affected by this proposal and have been advised.
There are no legal requirements that mandate the use of this product. However, this application
fulfills the requirements of good business practices that are recognized by the information
technology industry.
OGAT Support
This reduction proposes to cut funding for an administrative secretary in the Office of the Chief
Information Officer (CIO). The position is currently vacant and will not be filled in the current
fiscal year. One administrative secretary I (grade 14) position will be eliminated from the staff
complement of the Office of the CIO. This reduction included $50,499 in salary and $20,200 in
fringe benefits, for a total reduction of $70,699.
Some of the support that was provided by this position will be divided among the other
administrative support staff in the Office of the CIO. Some of the support will revert to support
staff funded in other divisions within OGAT. There will be less support for the OGAT
leadership team and its priority activities. There may be delays in the submission of work by the
staff in the Office of the CIO due to the lack of support for development, editing, processing, and
duplication. In addition, requests for information and phone coverage may be affected.
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Print Shop, Electronic Graphics and Publishing Services
This PEAR abolishes the Bindery Equipment Operator I, grade 11, FTE. As a result the salary
and benefits account is reduced by $45,168 by abolishing one FTE. Other print shop employees
are being cross-trained to do the work this position fulfilled in the print shop. We will seek to
have our customers submit work requests sooner to enable other staff to perform this work.
It is expected that the amount of time to complete jobs will increase. If current customer
practices of delivery work on very short turn around times and little flexibility on delivery dates,
it is expected that either the need for temporary part-time and/or overtime allocations will need
to be increased
Most offices have regular printing service needs. Many schools now use MCPS printing
services. Work coming to the print shop from external customers is increasing. The abolishment
of this position will require that customers provide materials to be printed earlier than in the past.
It also will affect delivery dates. No contact has been made with customers about the
abolishment of this position. This reduction in force may affect the timely production of
documents such as the MCPS Operating Budget; curriculum documents and instructional guides;
and routine publications, such as the Bulletin and the Management Memo.
School Television Studios Support
This reduction affects the repair and replacement of television (TV) studio equipment. It reduces
a position and the funds available for TV studio equipment repairs and replacement. The
Instructional Equipment Specialist position will be eliminated as part of a series of budget
reductions for FY 2004. This position provides support for school television studios. Service
calls are made to repair and/or troubleshoot equipment. A small budget is allocated for repair
and refurbishment of equipment. This position also provides support to various OGAT
initiatives as needed including coordinating the delivery of equipment and the refurbishing of
cascading computers.
This change would reduce the total request for school television (TV) studio equipment repairs
and replacement by a total of $120,284. Specific reductions are $64,457 in salaries, $25,783 in
fringe benefits, $11,500 in contractual costs for TV equipment repair, and $18,544 for equipment
replacement.
No staff and no funding for replacement TV studio support and equipment would remain in the
OGAT budget. While some funding for repairs is available, it is not enough to meet the needs.
Repairs could be handled through site visits routed through the Technology Systems
Maintenance (TSM) team. However, there will be a reduction in service since there is only one
person in TSM that is A-V trained. No productivity improvements are possible.
Responses to schools for repair and maintenance of television studio equipment will be
impacted. It may be necessary in extreme circumstances to use contractual money for onsite
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repairs that are beyond the capabilities of TSM staff. Since there would be no equipment
replacement program, TV studio equipment that is not repairable would have to be replaced
through K-12 funding if the studio is to remain operational. Library media services programs
may be affected in some schools. No consultation with affected units has been made.
Student and Business Legacy Systems
This proposed reduction eliminates four positions and reduces part-time and contractual funding
that is used to support the student and business systems within the Division of Applications
Development. The project, support, and functions performed through the use of the funds to be
reduced follow.
Student Systems
Application specialist I (23) – responsible for developing, designing, and maintaining student
applications on the IBM 3090 mainframe using IDMS as the database engine.
User support technician II (17) – responsible for the liaison between the student teams and all of
the schools. Also has the training and testing responsibilities for all of the student applications.
Part-time/contractual – funds support for the student legacy system, including database
administration and application development functions that respond to changes in legal mandates,
required enhancements, and high-priority requests for special reports that are approved by the
Office of Shared Accountability.
Business Systems
Tech Analyst (25) – responsible for designing, developing and maintaining the Human
Resources Information System on the SUN platform, using Oracle as the database engine.
This reduction represents $347,678 in total funding: $215,386 is for salary, $16,792 is for parttime, $28,000 is for contractual services, and $87,500 is for fringe benefits. If these cuts were
made, we would not have resources to do enhancements. If any enhancements were needed, this
work would have to be performed by adding back contractual funding.
The operations and maintenance functions currently being performed by the staff being reduced
would have to be performed by existing staff. This would result in longer work hours and having
their current work suffer from these additional demands. Other resources, such as consultants
and other OGAT staff outside of the division, also would have to provide periodic support to
assist with the duties currently performed by this resource.
Staff on the Student Systems, Business Systems, and Database Management teams will have to
absorb the work by the reduction of these positions. The Division of Applications Development
and the Division of Systems Architecture and Operational Support will not be able to maintain
the current level of legacy system services. Other units affected by this proposal are schools,
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Office of Shared Accountability, Executive Staff, the Office of Human Resources, and the
Divisions of Payroll and Retirement. We have not consulted them on this reduction.
This reduction will impact the accomplishment of two Board of Education policies. The first
policy affected is Policy AFA – Educational Accountability, which states, Educational
accountability includes those activities which have as their primary intent to provide a school
district’s Board of Education, superintendent, administrators, and teachers with information
they need to make informed decisions. The second policy affected is Policy IGS – Educational
Technology section B.2.c) Effective Management of Education, which states, Effective
management of education requires that student performance and background data be available
to administrators and teachers on demand.
Telecommunication Planning
This reduction reduces the amount of money available to examine our current telecommunication
services and create a five-year telecommunications plan. Funds were budgeted for contracting
with a vendor to survey the current state of telecommunications and data transmission and make
recommendations. An evaluation of MCPS use of Centrex services is an important part of this
survey and recommendations for renewal of the Centrex contract in FY 2004 is a critical
component.
Funds to be reduced are associated with the implementation of this
telecommunications plan and costs related to the work of the committee evaluating
telecommunications alternatives.
A total of $20,000 would be reduced. Reductions include contractual cost for implementation of
the Centrex Contract at $13,000 and travel and other costs for the Centrex contract committee at
$7,000. This proposed cut reduces by half the funds available for implementation (from $26,000
to $13,000) and it eliminates funding for the contract committee. Limited funding is available to
complete the telecommunications plan. If MCPS is unable to begin full implementation in FY
2004, funds are available to extend the current contract for one year.
While there should be no impact on current services, the benefit of potential efficiencies and
reductions in our telecommunication services will take longer to be realized. Since this item is
for long term planning, the current services can be maintained, but not improved, given current
funding levels. All schools and offices are impacted by telephone and data telecommunications.
However, it is not anticipated that any change in the current services level will occur.
WAN/LAN Support
This reduction cut two of our part-time network-wiring interns on the WAN/LAN team. These
interns provide low-cost assistance with ad hoc wiring of schools and offices, repair and
maintenance of routers and switches, and general troubleshooting assistance to the specialist.
The entire $25,918 budgeted for these part-time positions will be eliminated. Part-time will be
cut by $23,998 and the related fringe benefits will be cut by $1,920. There will still be some
part-time funding available, however, response time to schools will increase. Since all schools
have been wired using state TIMS funding, it is our hope that the need for support may be
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reduced. Time needed to respond to requests for additional CATV and data wiring, drops, and
support may increase.
Web Services
This PEAR reduces temporary part-time funds allocated to the Web Services Team (WST).
These funds have been allocated to employ qualified students during the summer to perform
development and maintenance functions. In the past, WST has been able to hire highly skilled
individuals at significantly lower wage when compared to industry standards. The total amount
of the reduction is $4,600.00 in temporary part-time funds.
The Web Services Team will seek to establish intern relationships with other local organizations,
such as Montgomery College and Johns Hopkins University. This reduction will result in
approximately 306 hours, nearly 8 weeks of one FTE of skilled technical support. This will
cause a delay in the development of items, such as office and special purpose Web sites as well
as data content delivery sites. It will have an impact on the WST work plan to migrate all nonschool based Web sites to a new, MCPS wide Web identity. As stated in the previous item, the
migration of offices Web sites to the new MCPS Web identity will be affected. Offices have not
been consulted.
Audio Visual Equipment Loaned to Schools and Offices
Audiovisual equipment for meetings and presentations is available for loan from the User
Support Division of the Office of Global Access Technology. Types of equipment include LCD
projectors and video monitors. School-based and non school-based staff borrows the equipment
as needed. The budget reduction is $11,738.
The current resources will be maintained to provide a pool of equipment for loan. Every effort
will be put forward to keep this equipment in working order. However, as aging equipment
breaks down, we will have only half of the current funding to replace it. Through obsolescence
and wear and tear, some equipment is not useable or it is marginally effective for end users’
purposes. Schools and non school-based offices requiring equipment for meetings and large
group presentations may be affected, depending upon the equipment needed and timing of the
meetings. Every effort to schedule needs as they are presented will be made. We have not
consulted with other Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) units about this budget cut.
The impact will be that some demands for equipment will not be met and/or there will be
sacrifices in quality of users’ presentations.
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