Class size concerns dominate hearing on proposed MCPS budget  

Building maintenance, safety also significant issues, parents and staff say

January 17, 2025 1:41 p.m. | Updated: January 29, 2025 5:07 p.m.

With many districtwide issues requiring attention from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), class sizes and staffing were the top concerns raised by teachers, staff, students and families during Thursday night’s public hearing on the school system’s proposed fiscal year 2026 operating budget.  

“We need reasonable class sizes. Teachers cannot implement [Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s] visions without smaller class sizes in schools,” Evelyn Chung, vice president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs (MCCPTA), told the school board during the hearing at its Rockville headquarters. “We [support] a fully funded budget but ask for strategic investments.”  

At the meeting with about 30 community members, many speakers also raised issues with building maintenance and safety. 

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Taylor is proposing a $3.61 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2026 – representing a nearly 9% increase over current spending – that he says is an attempt to provide “long-term stability” within the district.   

Taylor along with MCPS staff were on hand to discuss the proposed budget at Thursday night’s public hearing. A second hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m.  Jan. 27 at school board headquarters at 15 W. Gude Drive. 

The district is also holding three community sessions to explain how the budget works. The sessions, which will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m., are scheduled for Wednesday at Seneca Valley High School in Germantown and Jan. 28 at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville. The third session will be held virtually Jan. 30. The school board budget will hold its next work session on the proposal on Thursday.  

Taylor’s proposed $298.7 million increase comes in the wake of a difficult budget season that determined district spending for fiscal year 2025, which began July 1. In the spring, the county school board had to make significant cuts to close a spending gap after the County Council approved a fiscal year 2025 MCPS operating budget that was $30.5 million less than what was requested. The operating budget for fiscal year 2025, which ends June 30, is $3.32 billion. Fiscal year 2026 starts July 1. 

The nearly $300 million proposed addition would help pay for an expected 3.25% base salary increase for staff and the addition of 688 special education positions, as well as providing $40 million for an “underfunded” employee benefit plan and $5.47 million for an equity addition to the school material funding formula, among other items.  

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The proposed budget reflects a roughly $7 million cut that would result from a reduction of 81 positions due to the reorganization of the district’s central office.   

Class size and staffing concerns 

Several MCCPTA representatives spoke during the public hearing about the concerns of their own school clusters, but their testimony shared a common theme: a request to lower class sizes.  

Taylor’s budget proposal doesn’t include a reduction in class sizes. He told Bethesda Today in December he wished he was addressing that issue but isn’t because of the high cost of the other expenditures that he is proposing. For the 2024-2025 school year, class sizes were increased by one student to help close the spending gap in the fiscal year 2025 budget.   

Jonathan Thessin, an MCCPTA co-coordinator for the Richard Montgomery High School cluster in Rockville, said one elementary school in the cluster lost a kindergarten teacher, requiring the school to reduce the number of kindergarten classes from four to three resulting in even larger classes after the one-student class size increase. Thessin noted after the increase for the 2024-2025 school year, class size limits are 25 students for kindergarten, 26 for first and second grades, 27 for third grade and 29 for fourth and fifth grades. 

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“But here’s the kicker: Under MCPS rules, all classes must have at least one student above the maximum class size and one class must have at least two students above the maximum class size in order for the school to request additional staff. So ask yourself, would you want your kindergarten child to attend a class with 27 students?” Thessin told the board. 

Henriot St. Gerard, an MCCPTA co-coordinator for the Sherwood High School cluster and area vice president of the Northeast Consortium, said he was disappointed by the “lack of urgency” addressing class sizes. The consortium serves students attending Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville and James Hubert Blake and Springbrook high schools in Silver Spring. 

“Reducing class sizes must become a clear priority,” St. Gerard said. “This is not an optional improvement. It’s fundamental to enhancing the quality of education in our county.”  

School board member Rita Montoya, who was elected to her at-large seat in November,  said she shared concerns about class sizes but that “every ask comes with a price tag.”  

“One thing I would appreciate if someone is willing, is where should we take from?” Montoya asked. “Because if we fill an ask here, we likely have to pull from somewhere else, and that is the hard job that we have and so … if there is a space where you think that we should be shifting [money from], I would love to hear that.”  

While the issue of class sizes dominated the hearing, some speakers thanked Taylor for requesting an additional 688 special education and 47 Emergent Multilingual Learner (EML) positions.  

Amy Ackerberg-Hastings, who serves as the MCCPTA central area vice president for several clusters, said many of Taylor’s requests seemed reasonable and realistic, particularly with the proposed addition of special education staff.  

“I’ve seen how staffing shortages combined with the increased frequency and complexity of student mental health needs have chewed up experienced principles, prevented students with severe issues from getting the supports they need and disrupted the education of entire classes,” Ackerberg-Hastings told the board.  

Others, like elementary school counselor Jennifer Jones, asked the board to reevaluate staff-to-student ratios, particularly for counselors in elementary schools. Jones asked the district to consider lowering the school enrollment requirement for adding counselors to schools with higher poverty levels from 500 or more students to 250. 

Several students at the hearing advocated for more staff in a different area: restorative justice, which conceives justice as a “repair” to the harm caused by crime and conflict instead of as a punishment., according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance. Three students who are members of Young People for Progress, a community organizing and social justice organization in Montgomery County, said the district should fund more restorative justice coaches in high schools and make the restorative justice coach position full-time at all schools.  

Building maintenance and safety 

Other common themes among speakers were concerns about a lack of building maintenance leading to uncomfortable learning environments and continued safety concerns.  

Rachel Stalcup, an MCCPTA Springbrook High School cluster coordinator, said Cresthaven Elementary School in Silver Spring doesn’t have adequate heat or air conditioning. 

“Students have had to be relocated to other parts of the building, which weren’t as conducive to learning, and these movements obviously present logistical challenges for the teachers and staff,” Stalcup said. “Students have been known to wear heavy coats inside due to a malfunctioning [HVAC] unit in the multi-purpose room.”  

Stalcup added that White Oak Middle School in Silver Spring is also facing HVAC issues, and while the school recently renovated bathrooms and walkways to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, there are still several areas that aren’t accessible.

Nicholas Bassey, an MCCPTA Paint Branch High cluster coordinator, raised concerns about safety in elementary schools. He requested full-time security to monitor school cameras, manage traffic, de-escalate conflicts and deter unwelcome visitors.  

While Taylor’s proposed budget includes an additional 35 full-time equivalent security staff for elementary schools, Bassey said it wasn’t enough for the more than 100 elementary schools in the district.  

“We note that the part-time staff are great, but each elementary school needs its own dedicated personnel,” Bassey said.  

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