County leaders on Wednesday afternoon pledged to fully fund the Montgomery County Public School system budget and said they have set aside $5 million to do so, but still have about $9.4 million to flesh out.
The $5 million will come from funds the county will save from a bill passed in the state legislature that will upgrade the state’s 911 emergency call network and lower the amount of money Montgomery officials have to pay the state to operate the system.
It’s not clear exactly how much additional money Montgomery will have as a result of the bill, but officials said it’s “safe to say” at least $5 million will be allocated to kindergarten through 12th grade education.
“Because the state assumes more of the cost of the 911 service, it’s freeing up more money the county otherwise would have been spending, so the impact of this bill is providing us some of the money we need to make this work,” County Executive Marc Elrich said during a news conference in Rockville.
Elrich’s proposed operating budget for the 163,000-student school system fell $14.4 million short of the Board of Education’s requested $2.66 billion budget.
Elrich said he anticipated additional state funding to offset the shortfall and he’s exploring the possibility of changing the date the county budget is released from March 15 to April 15, after the state budget is finalized.
“There’s something to be said for doing a budget when you know what all of the resources are that you’re going to get from the state, because had we known some of the things that were clear at the very end of the legislative session, we would have had a little more flexibility with the budget,” Elrich said.
County officials said they will fully fund the school budget, but did not say exactly where the remaining money will come from. Navarro said the Council will iron out the rest of the details during upcoming committee meetings.
“This is a $2.6 billion budget so identifying that money should not be too difficult,” Navarro said.
Superintendent Jack Smith said the school system will explore “areas of savings” that will not impact students’ classroom experience.
If the council funnels more money into the school system’s budget, Smith said the money will go toward adding additional staff to high-poverty schools, expand science, technology, engineering and math programs at middle and high schools and reducing class sizes in elementary schools.
County Council member Craig Rice, chairman of the Education and Culture Committee said despite critics’ opposition, the school system is thriving and academic performance of minority students is increasing, signaling the county’s commitment to funding the school system’s annual budget requests is making a positive impact on students.
Navarro added providing adequate resources for the public school system is part of a “much larger economic development strategy.”
“We are mindful the quality of our schools is a major draw to the county,” she said. “We also have been engaged in conversations about the need to expand our tax base and to be a lot more strategic regarding this, but it’s also about ensuring all of our students have the opportunity to realize their full potential.”
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
