Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has formally asked the state Board of Education to allow the system to end school June 12, as originally scheduled.
The request, submitted Tuesday, was necessary because schools were closed for seven snow days this school year and MCPS had only four snow days built into its calendar. State law requires that public schools have at least 180 instructional days each school year. Without the waiver, MCPS would need to tack on three days at the end of the school year.
In a letter to Lillian Lowery, state superintendent of schools, MCPS said that keeping the schools open an additional three days would cost about $2 million. “This is in addition to the significantly higher costs we have experienced for snow removal operations, and for electricity and natural gas,” the letter from interim MCPS Superintendent Larry Bowers said. “These additional costs, in a very difficult budget year, make the situation even more challenging.”
In a statement, MCPS said the state board is expected to consider the waiver March 24. The statement said MCPS considered making up one of the snow days on March 27—when schools will be closed for students, but teachers will work—but that doing so “was not feasible” because the state board is not going to consider the waiver until March 24.
