On Thursday night, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Monifa McKnight presented her recommended operating budget of $3.32 billion for the fiscal year 2025, a 5% increase from the previous year.
A large portion of the budget, $99.4 million, is allocated to fund employee salaries – including a 3% salary increase – and health care costs.
“This will allow us to keep up with surrounding jurisdictions to begin getting ahead with competitive salaries and to remain a destination employer,” McKnight said.
As the school system reaches the end of its funding from federal COVID-19 relief – the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program – it reaches a critical juncture in identifying areas where the district needs to continue investment and make reductions. At a November youth town hall at the County Council, students shared concerns about the drying up of ESSER funding and wondered what would be prioritized after the funds are no longer available.
McKnight seeks to continue funding $33.3 million towards school social workers, psychologists, restorative justice specialists, HVAC maintenance, curriculum materials, single administrator schools and parent community coordinators. Those items were covered by $125 million in ESSER funds that will no longer be available next year.
McKnight presented the budget to students, families, teachers, school board members, elected officials and MCPS administrators at Odessa Shannon Middle School in Silver Spring. She highlighted four excelling MCPS students at the presentation and touted recent improvements in early literacy rates through the district’s investments in professional training for elementary educators adapted to the science of reading.
Board of Education President Karla Silvestre said the operating budget outlines four key priorities for the school system: increasing math and literacy rates; enhanced two-way communication between schools and families; safe and inclusive schools; and recruitment, retention and equitable distribution of a diverse workforce.
“We must continue Montgomery County’s long and proud tradition of support for our public school system,” Silvestre said. “Our moral compass must be providing students with what they need to achieve at the highest levels and achieve their beautiful potential, especially students that come to us with incredible challenges.”
McKnight’s recommended budget is a $157 million increase from the current year (FY 2024) budget of $3.165 billion.
Last year, the school board finalized a budget that was $74.3 million less than what the district initially requested. Elected officials at the county level contemplated 10% and 8% property tax increases aimed at increasing education funding and settled on a 4.7% tax hike after heated debate and concern.
Highlights from the Superintendent’s Recommended Operating Budget:
- $99.4 million towards employee compensation. This includes the employee benefits plan and a salary increase of 3%, plus a step increase on July 1, 2024.
- $33.3 million going towards items that were previously ESSER funded
- $15.6 million for inflationary costs
- $8.2 million on investment related to Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. This includes funding towards prekindergarten and fees related to Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and postsecondary school.
- $6.5 million towards grants and enterprise funds
- $4.6 million for items identified as “Accelerators,” such as musical equipment and repairs, language line and DIBELS early literacy assessments.
- $784,000 recommended for special education and emergent multilingual education due to enrollment increases.
McKnight’s recommended budget also includes a $14.3 million reduction in funding that would be allocated toward the MCPS central office. According to a news release, MCPS has required central offices to reduce 8% of their operating costs and 73.6 full-time positions.
She also mentioned that the district will no longer invest in the Leader in Me program – a social and emotional learning curriculum adopted by MCPS in 2021. According to McKnight, the district saw “mixed results” from the program and decided to pull back.
Another high priority for the district area is student safety and hate-bias. McKnight mentioned that the district received $870,000 grant from the statewide Stronger Connections program would help the school system “stomp out hate bias and bigotry in any form.”
McKnight also recommended a $500,000 increase in funding for the district’s compliance and investigations unit. After the investigation of a former MCPS principal Joel Beidleman brought to light the district’s mishandling of sexual misconduct and bullying allegations against him, MCPS committed to making significant improvements to the school’s investigative processes.
She emphasized the importance of providing a safe and nurturing environment not only for students but also for the adults “in front of them.”
“We must be better able to swiftly and thoroughly investigate any claims of wrongdoing anywhere in the district and take appropriate action,” said McKnight, hopeful that her recommendation for increased funding for MCPS’ investigative functions will help build trust with the outer school community and internally within the school system.
What’s Next?
On Jan. 18 and 25, the Board of Education will hold public hearings on the operating budget which will give the school community and stakeholders more opportunities to engage with school officials on the budget. The board will also hold work sessions on Jan. 16, 23 and tentatively the 30, and is expected to tentatively approve the operating budget on Feb. 6.
Once the board approves the FY 2025 budget, it will be sent to County Executive Marc Elrich (D) and County Council for consideration.
Councilmembers Will Jawando (D-At-Large) and Natali Fani-Gonzalez (D-Dist. 6) attended the budget presentation on Thursday night.
Jawando, who is chair of the Education and Culture Committee, said that he was happy to see the improvements in early literacy rates and that MCPS was choosing to withdraw funding from programs that were not working.
He said that he will be looking for additional revenue to draw funding, from bills in Annapolis, one-time funding, and different ways to get funding for the school system that does not involve property taxes.
“It’s always tough but at the end of the day, there is no better investment we can make than our kids,” Jawando said. “It’s critical to our competitiveness. … So, we’re going to have to have that debate. This is the start, and we will get through that. But I think my first take is that it’s not an unreasonable request. So, let’s see what we can do to try to meet as much as we can.”
MCPS noted in the press release, “It is essential to keep in mind that this budget represents a recommendation offered during a snapshot in time. Given the uncertainties in budget decisions by the County Executive, County Council and the county and state governments, adjustments will likely be made before the Board of Education adopts a final FY 2025 Operating Budget on June 11, [2024].”