‘The village is on fire’: School leaders sound alarm about potential budget cuts

If the Montgomery County Council doesn’t sign off on the school district’s requested budget, union leaders warn it will trigger a “five-alarm fire” for teachers, staff and students.

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, Superintendent Thomas Taylor outlined what reductions could look like. He presented several potential outcomes, ranging from what would happen if the district faced $18 million in cuts versus $90 million.

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

Taylor implored council members to consider how drastic these actions would be for families.

“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).”

Pia Morrison, leader of the SEIU Local 500 representing school support staff, was more concise in her denunciation.

“The village is on fire,” she said.

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 proposed a $3.8 billion operating budget for next year — a 5% increase that he said reflects the county’s tough economic circumstances.

County Executive Marc Elrich in March recommended an $8 billion operating budget that calls for a roughly 6% property tax hike and a 0.1% income tax increase. He said it was necessary to fully fund the school district’s request.

Most council members voiced concerns, saying Elrich’s plan would burden residents who are grappling with federal job losses and inflation that’s stressing their pocketbooks.

County Council members are spending their days searching for cuts.

“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.

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.

Stein, the teachers union president, said the council must look at all available options to increase revenue.

“And they have to find an option that avoids these kinds of catastrophic cuts to the school district,” he said.

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.

What next?

Council members are in the midst of tense debates over the budget.

Based on what they 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.

Taylor said he’ll keep staff updated on how the discussions progress. Some staffers received emails Tuesday saying their job position 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.”

This story will be updated.