Saturday, May 25, 2013
Among the largest school districts in the country, only New York City and Baltimore City spend more per child, the Census Bureau reports.
How much does it cost to educate a child in Montgomery County Public Schools for one year? According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau: $15,421. The bureau released figures for school spending in fiscal 2011, the last time the audit was conducted, and included per-pupil spending for each of the largest school districts. The top five big spenders were New York City ($19,770), Baltimore ($15,483), Montgomery County ($15,421), Milwaukee ($14,244) and Prince George's County ($13,775). Statewide, Maryland public schools are an $11.8 billion operation with the majority of the funds going to salary and benefits for employees. Average per-pupil spending in 2011 was $13,871 for the state. Nationally, dollars per child were down to $10,560 per…
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The state's spending and advocacy for cyclists earned it a high ranking from the League of American Bicyclists.
Maryland is one of the best states in the region in which to bike, according to new rankings from the League of American Bicyclists. A combination of citizen advocacy for safe bike routes, dedicated state funding and a "Share the Road" campaign helped the state earn No. 11, behind places like Washington state, Colorado, Oregon and Massachusetts. Neighboring states also fared well on the rankings list: Delaware was No. 5, Pennsylvania was No. 15 and Virgina was No. 16. The League created a list of 10 signs that show progress on bikeability for states, including more than 1 percent of the commuters using bikes, bike education for police and congestion mitigation, none of which the organization noted positively for Maryland. "As the scores …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Once again, Bethesda high schools are included in a national ranking of top high schools.
Montgomery County Public Schools have done it again—landing in top spots in a national ranking. This time, the ranking is the third annual list of America's Best High Schools, published by Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Walt Whitman High School, Walter Johnson High School and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School came out as the third-, fourth- and fifth-best schools, respectively, in the county. Seventeen of the county's public high schools made it on this list, which includes the nation's top 2,000 high schools—less than 10 percent of all the high schools in the country. And, the top six high schools in Maryland are all MCPS schools, according to a school system statement. The 17 county schools (with their national rankings in parentheses) on …
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Eight of the county's public high schools—including Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and Walt Whitman High School—placed in U.S. News & World Report's 2013 Best High Schools list.
Montgomery County Public Schools are back in the news again. Eight of the system's public high schools placed in U.S. News & World Report's 2013 Best High Schools list, with seven of them—including Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and Walt Whitman High School—receiving gold medals for being among the top 500 schools in the nation, and one receiving a silver medal, Montgomery County Public Schools reported in a statement. The gold medal high schools and their national rankings are: Wheaton High School, ranked 1,032nd, received a silver medal. "The schools on the U.S. News Best High Schools list should be proud of the work they have done to serve their students and prepare them for college and the workplace," Superintendent Joshua P. Starr …
Monday, April 29, 2013
The city has a lower-than average unemployment rate.
Bethesda isn't a bad place to find work. In fact, it has one of the lowest unemployment rates—5.2 percent—of any city in the country, according to Forbes Magazine, the International Business Times reported. Nation-wide, the unemployment rate decreased to 7.6 percent in March, from 7.7 percent in February. The average unemployment rate in the country was 5.81 from 1948 to 2013, with a high of 10.8 percent in November 1982, Trading Economics reported. Forbes' ranking was compiled based on statistics from human resources company Adecco Staffing, which gets the data from the U.S. Department of Labor, the International Business Times reported. In Bethesda, jobs are available in the "hospitality, construction and health care sectors, while …
Sunday, April 28, 2013
A new Gallup poll contains a surprise: We’re not as stressed as we think.
Maryland is among the top 10 least stressed states in the nation, according a new Gallup poll released this month. The data show that Maryland is the ninth least stressed state in the country, with 38.8 percent of Maryland residents responding to a survey in 2012 saying they felt stress in the previous day. Nationally, 40.6 percent of Americans said they felt stressed the previous day, according to the survey results, which included more than 350,000 interviews conducted from January through December of 2012. Hawaii residents are the least stressed nationally, with 32.1 percent reporting feeling stress the previous day; West Virginia residents were the most stressed, according to the survey, with 47.1 percent reporting feeling stressed the…
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School came in at No. 92 in The Washington Post's annual High School Challenge index.
Four of Montgomery County's public high schools are among the nation's top 100 high schools, according to The Washington Post's 2013 High School Challenge. Those four are: Poolesville High School (No. 47), Richard Montgomery High School (No. 87), Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (No. 92) and Winston Churchill High School (No. 100). Of Montgomery County Public Schools' 25 high schools, 23 are included in the top half of the list of more than 1,900 high schools across the country. The list, released on Monday, April 15, ranks schools based on their students' access to challenging classes such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. "Our district’s strong performance on the High School Challenge indicates that we are …
Friday, March 15, 2013
Montgomery County is the first county in Maryland to have more than 1 million residents.
Montgomery County is the first county in Maryland to have more than 1 million people living in it, according to a county planning department statement. The county's population, calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau, reached 1,004,709 last July, having gained more than 13,000 people between July 2011 and July 2012, "up from a revised 991,645 the previous year, a 1.3 percent increase," the statement added. "Most of the population increase is due to births, what demographers call a 'net natural increase' of 7,630 people. In the period, 13,097 births exceeded 5,467 deaths," the statement continued. The rest of the increase is from 8,700 people migrating into the county from abroad, "offsetting the net loss of 3,100 people moving out of the …
Thursday, March 7, 2013
How many billionaires are in your town?
Chevy Chase fared well in Forbes' 2013 list of billionaires—1,426 people (a record) from around the world with an average net worth of $3.8 billion. Nine of them were from Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reported. The following Chevy Chase residents were included on the list, The Sun pointed out: Did we leave your name off the list? Tell us in the comments!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
More than half of the county school system's graduating seniors last year earned at least one college-ready AP score.
News about the county's high-performing high-school students just doesn't stop. According to a Montgomery County Public Schools' statement, 52.3 percent of the county's public school students graduating from high school in 2012 earned a college-ready score (a score of 3 or higher) on at least one Advanced Placement exam, "far outperforming their peers across the state and nation." That's an increase of nearly 3 percentage points from 2011. Nationally, only 19.5 percent of graduating seniors last year earned at least one college-ready AP score. Across the state, 29.6 percent of graduating seniors in 2012 earned at least one college-ready AP score. No state had a higher percentage of students earning at least one AP score of 3 or higher, the…
Captain Cook
11:42 am on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
And deaths from bikes and peds are up over 1/3. Sure, keep on the road. more ›