The Montgomery County school board on Thursday unanimously approved a $1.85 billion facilities budget for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) for fiscal year 2026, endorsing a spending plan that calls for reallocating funding from some upcoming projects to pay for other building construction currently underway.
Taylor presented his recommended fiscal year 2026 capital budget and proposed amendments to the district’s 2025-2030 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) to the school board Oct. 24. He recommended reallocating funding from upcoming projects, including those for early childhood center construction and elementary schools.
The budget for fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1, includes adding $53 million to capital projects for Northwood High School in Silver Spring, Crown High School in Gaithersburg and Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville to finish the construction.
To address the increases, the budget calls for reallocating $36.5 million in placeholder funds for future early childhood center projects and $5 million from sustainability initiatives. It also includes reallocating $12 million in placeholder funds from future elementary school projects.
“I think you’re starting to see a theme here … which is that we may be even taking a half step back so that we’re spending the money wisely,” Taylor told the school board Oct. 24 when he presented his proposed facilities budget. “Even some of the things that we may be pulling back from momentarily, we’re not pulling back from … we just want to make sure that they make sense.”
Following an MCPS staff mistake that led to the temporary loss of $39.3 million in state aid for the ongoing construction of Woodward High, the approved budget includes an additional $21.6 million that the school board is expected to request from the County Council.
MCPS has two annual budgets: the operating budget and the capital budget. The operating budget includes everything needed to operate schools, including pay for educators and staff and programming costs. The capital budget supports school construction and facilities projects alongside the district’s CIP, which is a six-year plan for facility projects.
“My goal for this year’s recommendations are to exercise financial stewardship by maximizing our taxpayer dollars and keeping our major projects whole,” Taylor told the board Thursday.
The school board approved Taylor’s recommended budget and amendments after holding two work sessions and several hearings in which MCPS community members shared their concerns about needs in their school buildings.
Taylor said the district heard “loud and clear” that there are significant needs in school buildings and was looking to address some of those needs, including HVAC, through the operating budget. Taylor also said MCPS staff has discussed the next steps needed to address other concerns raised during the hearings.
