Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is exploring the idea of creating regions across the county that would offer similar programs for high school students to increase equity, according to a presentation at the May 8 school board meeting.
The new model is part of the district’s ongoing program analysis and boundary study.
The analysis includes programs ranging from regional and countywide magnet and lottery-based programs to those dealing with career and technical education, AP courses and dual enrollment in high school and Montgomery College, the county’s community college.
MCPS offers a variety of application programs with some open to students countywide and others only open to students in specific high school clusters. The subject areas for the programs range from science, math and computer science to leadership for social justice and project-based learning in engineering and biomedical sciences.
The program analysis was previously set to be included as part of the district’s boundary study. But the district opted to conduct its own program analysis concurrently with the boundary study conducted by a hired consultant, according to MCPS staff. Any changes resulting from the program analysis is set to be implemented in January 2026.
At the May 8 board meeting, MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor said the district was at an “important juncture” in the program analysis and boundary study that would require MCPS to consider options for programs that will align with student capacity in high school attendance zones.
The first option for high school programming, MCPS Chief Academic Officer Niki Hazel told the board, is to keep the existing model with slight adjustments. Hazel said doing so would not alleviate ongoing transportation challenges, including not being able to provide all students with transportation to their desired programs. Hazel said sticking with the existing program also presents equitability challenges because not all students who may want to attend specific programs live near where they are offered.
The second would create regions across the district with similar program options and would provide MCPS the ability to transport all students who attend the programs, Hazel said.
“There could be health science programs in each region. They may not be exact, but they would be very similar,” Hazel said. “And that would allow students to have easy access to that program within their region.”
Hazel said MCPS received feedback from families, community members and school-based staff, who questioned how MCPS could ensure the regions were equal and diverse. Hazel said MCPS staff would keep that question in mind as the analysis continued.
Student Member of the Board Praneel Suvarna, who traveled an hour by bus to Richard Montgomery High in Rockville to attend one of its programs before he moved back to his home school of Clarksburg High, wanted to ensure the district wasn’t “trading one type of equity for another” with any shifts in programming.
“We need to keep the things that we’re very good at doing and just expand them — when we’re looking at this program evaluation, that we’re really making sure it’s being done with fidelity,” said Suvarna, who is now a senior.
Hazel said the district would continue to gather feedback and would introduce a recommendation concerning high school programming to the board at its May 22 meeting.
