County school board suggests $1M trim to proposed $3.61B budget for upcoming fiscal year 

Recommends cutting costs for renaming Magruder High School, central office development

January 30, 2025 7:14 p.m. | Updated: February 4, 2025 3:49 p.m.

Editor’s note: This story, originally published Jan. 30, 2025, at 7:14 p.m., was updated Feb. 4, 2025, at 3:45 p.m., to correct that the proposed $298.7 million increase is the total increase from fiscal year 2025 to fiscal year 2026.

The Montgomery County school board suggested Thursday a trim totaling about $1 million from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s proposed $3.61 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year during its final public meeting on the plan before a tentative adoption vote next week.

At its final public meeting before the Feb. 4 tentative adoption vote, the board recommended cutting funding for renaming Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville and a social-emotional learning specialist, plus decreasing spending for central office professional development. The board’s recommended cuts would remove roughly $1.06 million from the proposed spending plan. 

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“I think this is a bare-bones budget, and that we did ask for what we needed,” board member Brenda Wolff said during the meeting. “I do agree with it. However, anything can be tweaked a little.”  

Taylor’s proposed spending plan for fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1, represents a nearly 9% increase over current spending. According to a budget spreadsheet shared online by the district, Taylor is requesting $2.4 billion from the county, which is $291 million above the state-mandated maintenance of effort requirement. State law requires the county to provide the district with at least the same amount in local dollars from one year to the next. The maintenance of effort amount for fiscal year 2025 is about $2.1 billion. 

The proposed $298.7 million increase from fiscal year 2025 to fiscal year 2026 comes in the wake of a difficult budget season in 2024 in which the county school board had to make significant cuts. The cuts were needed to close a spending gap after the County Council approved a fiscal year 2025 MCPS operating budget that was $30.5 million less in spending than the school board requested. The operating budget for fiscal year 2025, which ends June 30, is $3.32 billion.   

The board’s reductions to the budget come after several public hearings and community meetings where community members raised concerns about class sizes, safety and special education funding.  

Taylor told the board its suggested reductions would be reflected in the budget proposal up for a vote next week. Once the board tentatively adopts the proposed operating budget, the spending plan heads to the County Council for deliberation.

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“I want to thank the board for your very clear direction, very judicious and thoughtful selection of things that would generate a savings,” Taylor told the board. “I think your partners in the County Council certainly appreciate the efforts that you’re making to reduce our ask.”  

Pause renaming Magruder High School 

Wolff was the first to propose that MCPS could eliminate the funding needed to rename Magruder High.  

“I know how sensitive this issue has been to the community,” Wolff said. “However, at this point in time … I think we have to stay focused on our North Star, which is achievement, literacy and reading.”  

The process of renaming Magruder High began in February 2023 after a petition calling for a because the school was named after an enslaver was submitted to the school board. Community engagement sessions were held throughout the fall of 2023. According to the district’s budget spreadsheet, renaming Magruder would require $650,000 to implement “rebranding” associated with the renaming, including signage, athletic uniforms and other materials.  

School board member Rita Montoya echoed Wolff’s comment and said the school renaming could be addressed as part of the district’s Capital Improvements Program. Board Vice President Grace Rivera-Oven noted that the renaming would occur, but the timetable would change.  

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Lowering spending on central office professional development 

Board President Julie Yang recommended Taylor decrease the proposed spending on professional learning for those within the central office by half to $250,000.  

Taylor’s budget allocates $500,000 for central services leadership development, according to the budget. This would include the adoption of a project management approach for MCPS leadership and training for executive leadership and central services directors in fiscal year 2026.   

Taylor said at a Jan. 23 work session that funding leadership development and training for central services staff was part of a three-year plan.   

“The absence of a structure has not served MCPS well,” Taylor told the board at the time. “We don’t manage projects as well as we should.” 

Yang said professional development is important but “given all the constraints” the district is experiencing, she wanted to see if MCPS could carry out the development with less money.  

“This is one area I think that we can leverage community support,” Yang said. “There are a lot of expertise out there, grant opportunities and [peer models] to make us strong.” 

Cutting a social-emotional learning position 

Board member Laura Stewart suggested cutting a social-emotional learning (SEL) specialist included in the budget’s non-discretionary section for equity and organizational development. The position would provide “design, administration, and interpretation of district-wide SEL data measures and assessments,” according to the budget spreadsheet.  

The budget line item that includes the SEL position also includes an assessment reporting specialist, a position Stewart said she didn’t want to cut due to its importance after Rivera-Oven raised concerns about cutting the position. According to the budget spreadsheet, the position would “develop and implement assessment tools, analyze data to identify trends and prepare detailed reports to inform decision-making.”  

The budget allocated $321,451 for both positions, roughly $160,725 per position.  

“I do know that the Office of Shared Accountability does good work, and I’m confident that we can use existing staff to work on our social-emotional learning education,” Stewart said.   

While students find social-emotional learning important, Student Member of the Board Praneel Suvarna said the Office of Shared Accountability could collaborate with a mental health work group he established to discuss the types of resources that are available instead of dedicating an entire position to it.  

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