‘The village is on fire’: School leaders decry potential cuts as council debates tax bumps

Union leaders warned Tuesday that if the Montgomery County Council fails to sign off on the school district’s requested budget, it would trigger a “five-alarm fire” for teachers, staff and students.

That message is prompting some council members to consider a property tax increase to help meet the schools’ needs. The council previously rejected County Executive Marc Elrich’s proposal to hike property tax rates by about 6%.

Education leaders laid out the consequences should the council send schools less than the $3.8 billion operating budget requested by Superintendent Thomas Taylor.

It could mean fewer social workers to help high schoolers navigate a precarious crossroads in their lives. Less mental health support for children in crisis. And cuts to the central staff positions responsible for keeping things moving in Maryland’s largest school district.

Among the most severe options on the table: eliminating 220 middle school teacher positions, reopening union negotiations over educator pay and reducing the amount of support for children with disabilities.

“These cuts are going to affect the students’ education, without a doubt,” Montgomery County Education Association President David Stein said in an interview with The Banner.

In a Tuesday message to the council, Taylor presented several possible outcomes should the district face $18 million in cuts versus $90 million.

Every $10 million reduction roughly translates into 100 fewer full-time positions in the district, Taylor said.

“This set of recommendations is designed to keep the impact as far away from direct classroom instruction as possible,” Taylor wrote to the council. “None of the options are desirable (actually, they are all horrible and dishonor the positive impact that many of our hard working teammates have given to the County’s children and families).”

As council members contemplate tax increases, they’re searching for cuts wherever they can find them.

“Based on resource changes and reductions to date, the Council will need to reduce the Executive’s recommended budget by an additional $113.7 million to approve a balanced budget,” reads a May 12 county document.

Budget fight

About half the county’s budget flows to Montgomery County Public Schools, which educate more than 155,000 students and employ roughly 26,000 people.

Taylor has said that his proposed operating budget for next year, a 5% increase from the previous year’s budget, reflects the county’s tough economic circumstances and the district’s enrollment decline.

Elrich in March recommended an $8 billion operating budget. In addition to the approximately 6% property tax hike, he called for a 0.1% income tax increase and said the increased revenue is necessary to fully fund the school district’s request.

Most council members shot Elrich’s plan down as too burdensome for residents who are grappling with federal job losses and inflation.

Instead, a slim majority of council members have endorsed a progressive income tax plan that would raise rates by 0.1% for residents with an annual income greater than $150,000.

On Tuesday, council member Kate Stewart asked staff to determine how a 2-cent property tax increase could impact the budget.

According to council Executive Director Craig Howard, every 1 cent of a tax increase funnels about $26.1 million into the county’s revenue stream. A 2-cent increase would add $52.2 million.

Council President Natali Fani-González said the council must vote on proposed cuts and the income tax proposal Wednesday. She asked council members to submit new proposals by 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

“You’re going to have to come here and say, ‘I want to remove that item from the budget’ in public, in front of everybody, because that’s transparency,” she said. “I know it’s uncomfortable, but we’ll survive.”

The vast majority of the MCPS budget goes toward employee salaries and benefits.

“In our budget, there are only two places where reductions of this magnitude realistically occur: the number of people employed and what they are paid,” Taylor wrote in a community message.

“MCPS has not experienced potential workforce reductions on this scale in many decades,” he added.

Council member Will Jawando, who chairs the Education and Culture Committee, said “everything needs to be on the table” to fund the schools’ requested budget.

He told The Banner Tuesday that the potential staff cuts outlined by the superintendent would be “catastrophic.”

“These are taxpayers who are struggling to pay for things, just like everybody else, who negotiated a contract in good faith. Hundreds of them could lose their jobs,” Jawando said.

Pia Morrison, leader of the SEIU Local 500 representing school support staff, was succinct in describing the potential fallout.

“The village is on fire,” she said.

What next?

Based on how much council members decide to allocate, the school board will meet on May 21 to reconcile next year’s finances. The final vote on the operating budget is expected on June 4.

“At this point, we are at the mercy of the County Council,” said school board president Grace Rivera-Oven.

Taylor said he’ll keep staff updated on how the discussions progress. Some staffers received emails Tuesday saying their positions might be cut, though Taylor warned that no decisions are finalized.

“There may be more to come,” he said.

Staff members are consumed with worry, Morrison said.

“They are concerned about what’s going to happen for the students,” she said. “They’re concerned about what’s going to happen for themselves, and they’re concerned about what’s going to happen to their colleagues.”

Union leaders have questions as they digest potential staff cuts: Who will fix the Chromebooks when they break? How will the county’s celebrated athletics department weather reductions? What happens when there aren’t enough social workers to help kids in need?

“It is our members, their livelihoods and their families, that are on the line,” Stein said. “But it’s more than that. It’s the effectiveness of a school system and really going back on the values that we all believe in here in Montgomery County. We believe in public education here.”