House Bill 45, The Accountability in Education Act of 2019

March 7, 2019
SUPPORT
Janis Sartucci
Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland is speaking in support of House Bill 45 today
because time and time again we see public education used as a profit center for companies that do not
add any value or dollars to public school classrooms.

Today we bring to you the example of the no RFP, no bid, no public discussion contract that has
been established between Montgomery County Public Schools and a company called Force Multiplier.
This deal was executed with out any public procurement process and now the public is left asking,
“Where does all the money go?”

The contract allegedly requires Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) to pay $18 million for
cameras to be installed and operated on MCPS school buses. MCPS is to turn 100% of the fine
revenue over to the bus camera company until the $18 million number is reached.

NO revenue is received by either MCPS or the Police Department until the $18 million is paid off. Yet,
both organizations must employ staff to handle these transactions.

The original contract for bus cameras was with a company called Force Multiplier, but they shut down
when their CEO was arrested by the FBI in a massive bus camera scandal that rocked the city of Dallas,
Texas. The company reformed as BusPatrol (their 4th name change) and the MCPS Superintendent
simply inserted the name BusPatrol for Force Multiplier and continued the contract without a public
discussion or Board of Education vote.

Bus camera citations for passing a stopped school bus cost drivers $250 each.

The Montgomery County Police state that 34,436 citations have been issued as of FY18. That
number of citations would yield approximately $7,976,550 million in revenue.

However, when the citation fine revenue is tracked through MCPS for the same time period in
FY18 only $1,553,230 is found.

That leaves $6.4 million in fine revenue unaccounted for. Where is the missing fine revenue?

To understand how many people and organizations handle fine revenue, please see the attached flow
chart.

This is exactly the type of public school procurement issue that is ripe for investigation by an Inspector
General. Please support this legislation.

Janis Zink Sartucci, Esq.

Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD
Formed in 2002, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland seeks to achieve the goals of coherent, content-rich curriculum standards;
high expectations combined with timely remediation and acceleration; a wider range of educational options for parents and children; greater
transparency and accountability; and meaningful community input.