That was my thought process exactly.

By Theresa Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 17, 2008; Page B01

With the nation watching, the impact of Prince William County’s illegal immigration crackdown will be measured not by the county board that pushed for it, or the police officers who will enforce it, but by an independent team of college professors and criminologists.

At the heart of their evaluation will be a question that has never been explored: How does a community change when its police officers start checking citizenship?

The team will analyze everything from police records to public sentiment. But how do you measure such a policy’s success? If large numbers of illegal immigrants leave the county, were they driven out by police actions, out of fear or because there are fewer jobs in a flagging economy? If reported crime goes down, does it mean that fewer people are breaking the law or that more people are afraid to call authorities?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/16/AR2008031602533.html

The failing economy is likely a factor in enrollment declines.

To keep a AAA rating, debt needs to be less than 10% of the budget and less than 3% of the assessed value of the land in the county. The debt ceiling is maxed out as a percentage of the overall budget, not as a percentage of land value (it’s at about 1.3% of land value). Who sets the budget? The BOCS. Why is it maxed out? Because the current leadership of the BOCS has seen it more important to keep taxes low while property values have plummeted. That means there is less space available under the 10% cap for needed infrastructure like roads, schools, police stations, parks, fire stations, etc.–all things needed to keep the quality of life in line with citizen’s expectations. Gerhardt doesn’t have the authority to max anything out without the BOCS approving it.

Your line of reasoning is a cop out. The CXO serves at the pleasure of the BOCS. The Chief of Police serves at the pleasure of the BOCS. Martin Briley serves at the pleasure of the BOCS. Miles Friedman serves at the pleasure of the BOCS.

Need I continue?

If there truly is this level of “incompetence” and “insubordination” shouldn’t these people all be removed from their jobs? If they were all intentionally making elected Republicans look bad, wouldn’t those elected Republicans do something about it? Or are you implying that our elected Republican leadership is so stupid and ineffective that they are powerless to actually take any action? So if the people we elect can’t be held accountable for the way the government is run and don’t seem willing or able to exercise their authority to govern, I’d say it is high time to kick them out and elect some people who will! At the end of the day, regardless of your contention that the elected folks don’t really run things, the reality it the ones we elect are the ones responsible. The sign on Truman’s desk said “The buck stops here;” it didn’t point down the hall to the administrator’s office.

“Since our county government and schools are operated largley by liberal Democrats, it is no wonder they can’t get very excited about this.”

Elected officials don’t run the day to day operations of local government. The people directly in charge make recommendation to the Republican BofCS.

Craig Gerhardt’s is the county executive (CXO) who has continuously failed to run government efficiently, he allowed the debt ceiling to be maxed out, and AAA bond rating to be at risk.

Land sales at Innovation have been far below expectations. Mr. Martin Briley is the highest paid Economic Development executive in Northern VA earning a quarter of a million dollars a year in salary, and gets paid when the contract is signed rather than at the closing table. We can lower the debt ceiling by selling off the land, and if Briley can’t do it after all the time he has had, find someone who can get the job. Who is his boss? Not the BofCS it is the county CXO.

Chief Dean had to be called out by BVBL before acknowledging that illegal aliens were living in PWC. When my kids withhold info that is the same as lying. Who is his boss? Not the BoCS but the CXO.

Miles Friedman, appointed as the chairman of the economic development council. PWC is his customer. His recently asked the BoCS for funding for affordable housing for police, teachers, etc. and $160,000 in consulting fees went directly in to his pocket., leaving only $50,000 for workforce housing. He publicly campaigned for Pandak!

Need I continue? This is blatant insubordination or in some cases incompetence that spans across all executive levels of (non-elected) county government intentionally to make elected Republicans look bad.

I don’t disagree with that, CW, because those who are not part of the problem will not, or at least should not, “feel insulted.”

Now they have a PR disaster on their hands. Once the public thinks a public body is trying to hide something and money is related, they are angry. The taxpayers are already on alert because of the new admin building and the article about high admin raises.

The school board sent that letter saying they had to have the money for 2000 students. Now it looks like they won’t have 2000 students because of an unexpected decrease of 800 students (600 + of which were ESOL), so are they going to decrease their request? I doubt it and the public is certain to notice.

The argument that the school board is certain to make is that 800 more students might show up. That argument doesn’t hold water, because their own predictions do not show that to be the case. A major way of predicting next year’s enrollment is based on the mid year additions. And if they really had been expecting 2800 instead of 2000, I’m sure we would have known about it, because they’d be asking for even more money.

I’m not saying there won’t be savings, but that the savings will not be the same as simply multiplying 600 by the current cost per student. Let’s say the ration of ESOL students to ESOL teachers is 20:1. Losing 600 students does not mean that 30 ESOL teachers can be let go next year because those 600 students are spread across all 82 schools. So one school may only lose 2 students while another loses 4. On both cases, the ESOL teacher position is still needed because there are enough students remaining to justify the class and the teacher position. That teacher costs the same amount whether there are 7 or 20 kids in the class. So we might be able to cut a portion of the teachers (and the other fixed resources), but you can’t say the savings will be $6 million because you take the cost per pupil average (~$10500) and multiply that by 600. I’m just saying the savings will be less than $6 million, not that there won’t be any savings.

I was also pointing out that while there is a net decrease of 600 ESOL students, there were also 700 new ESOL students that have started since September 30. The flow is still going both ways (though more seem to be going than coming). At any given point in time, the number of ESOL students (and students in general) is fluid and subject to peaks and valleys.

As for the “savings” backfilling programs previously cut, it is more likely the “savings” will be used to address the current gap between the proposed budget and what the schools actually get (which right now is between $6 and 19 million depending on which tax rate is finally advertised).

I completely understand what you were saying…It was just the way I phrased my response that was incorrect. In a nutshell, I really don’t care who feels insulted(legal or illegal), just as long as the job gets done.

You guys are just mixing apples and oranges. It’s guys like you two that make the whole debate confusing. As “The Patriot” referred to above….A lot of legal latinos secretly support their “illegal” brothers and sisters, and thereby, contribute to the problem. Besides, if a latino person is “legal” they have nothing to worry about. I can’t believe you guys say with straight faces that we are appearing to be racist. Who cares what the Washington Post and the liberal media think anyway? They certainly don’t represent my interests. Gee, it would be too bad if I insulted the MS-13 gang members that spray painted on my property. Gee, it would be too bad if I made the people who run the flop-houses on my street uncomfortable. Perhaps many legal latinos feel bad because they have a guilty conscience? You guys are unreal. Do y’all have families? Well, if you lived where I do you might feel differently about caring about who you make feel bad. What about me? I feel bad. How about my feelings? I have small children. I care about them.

I happen to agree with Ike. We have always had a large Latino population in this county (take a look at census data), the difference being that our legal Latino neighbors have assimilated into our communities along with the rest of us ethnically diverse folks (I happen to have been born in Germany). I have never felt that this fight has been about Latinos v. everyone else…it has ALWAYS been about legal residents v. illegal aliens, regardless of ethnicity. Putting any other face on it does give the appearance racism and xenophobia. I have absolutely no desire to see our legal Latino residents run for the hills (unless they are actively aiding and abetting)…I’d like to see the illegal aliens gone so that we can all live together in peace once more.

Since September there has indeed been a decline of around 600 students. However, this has been a net change. Based on information I was given by someone with the schools, about 1300 ESOL students have withdrawn while about 700 new ESOL students were added (for the net change of -600). In the overall ESOL populations, however, this is a fraction of the total population and not isolated to one area, so the net saving will be far less than $6 million. In many cases, there will be very limited savings because the departing students are spread out across the county which means that classes will just get smaller, not eliminated (and thus, the need for the same number of ESOL teachers and staff).
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How do you figure we will need the same number of teachers and staff if the numbers decline? Even if it is 5:1 or 20:1 ratio of students to teachers it will require less teachers to do the job. With smaller classes they can be more effective in teaching them which requires less support staff. I see savings any way you slice this. These savings will help INDIRECTLY fund the resolution since less teachers and staff will need to be paid.

Increase taxes. The people of Montgomery Co. will eventually get tired of it and vote in a Board that will follow PWC’s lead and adopt a resolution to remove the ILLEGAL aliens.

I appreciate your sentiments, but I would like to know what proof you have to back up your statement that most hispanics in PWC “are legal.” I have found in my PERSONAL work experience that this is not the case. And, let’s be real….The resolution was meant to deal with illegals of all ethnic backgrounds. True. But, the overwhelming number of illegals in PWC are latino. I think this is best exemplified by who it was that came out in large numbers(thousands) against the resolution. The last time I checked it wasn’t “Ugandans Without Borders” but “Mexicans Without Borders.” And, by my saying that I am not a racist. The flop-houses in my neighborhood are not being run by Africans, Europeans, or Asians. These houses are inhabited by Central and South Americans. The individual “gang” types that hang out at Wal-Mart and harass my wife and children are not African, but hispanic. The dudes peeing on the street corners in front of 7-11s are not European. Let’s be real, and stop this politically correct poo-poo ca-ca.