For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 9, 2024
The Council will hold a virtual public hearing on Wednesday, April 10 at 1:30 p.m. on the FY25 Operating Budget and FY25-30 Public Services Program and Fiscal Policy for the following: Montgomery County Government, Montgomery College, Maryland-National Capital Park, and Planning Commission, WSSC Water and Montgomery County Public Schools.
The Education and Culture (EC) Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. to review the FY25 Operating Budget for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). In addition, the committee will review Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) Report 2024-6, Public and Private Funding Sources for K-12 Public Schools and receive an update on Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) academic achievement and college and career readiness.
The members of the EC Committee include Chair Will Jawando and Councilmembers Gabe Albornoz and Kristin Mink.
More detail on each agenda item is provided below.
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) FY25 Operating Budget
Review: The EC Committee will begin its review of the Board of Education’s more than $3.3 billion requested FY25 Operating Budget for MCPS, which is an increase of more than $187 million, or 5.9 percent, over the approved FY24 Operating Budget. The tax-supported budget, which excludes grants and enterprise funds, is more than $3,1 billion. This represents an increase of more than $178 million, or 6 percent, over the FY24 approved tax-supported budget.
The Board’s request increases the local contribution from the County by more than $162 million, or 8.2 percent, over the approved FY24 local contribution. The Board’s request is more than $188 million over the required Maintenance of Effort (MOE) level. The MOE requirement for FY25 decreased nearly $26 million from the FY24 approved funding level, which is due to recent years of slight declines in enrollment across grades K-12.
The Board projects FY25 enrollment to be 155,659 in grades K-12, which is 239 students less than the current school year’s enrollment of 155,420. The Board’s request adds a total of $53 million for strategic priority enhancements, new initiatives and elements to enhance or improve key priorities. In addition, the Board’s budget adds a net total increase of 268.7 full-time employees (FTE) above the approved FY24 budget level, for a requested FY25 total of 24,764.5 FTE.
The County Executive recommends an MCPS FY25 Operating Budget of more than $3.2 billion, which is an increase of more than $127 million, or 4 percent, over the approved FY24 funding level. The County Executive’s recommendation is more $60 million less than the Board’s requested total budget. The Executive’s recommended County contribution is more than $2.1 billion, which is more than $106 million, or 5.4 percent, above the approved FY24 local contribution. This recommended funding level is more than $55 million less than the Board of Education requested for the County contribution.
At this meeting, the committee will receive an overview of the budget, including a fiscal summary of revenues and expenditures and review the MOE level, fund balances and Racial Equity and Social Justice (RESJ) statements. The committee is expected to hold additional meetings on April 22, April 29 and May 1 to continue to review the MCPS operating budget.
Review: The EC Committee will review OLO Report 2024-6, Public and Private Funding Sources for K-12 Public Schools. The report describes the sources of public school funding and presents data on the relative contributions of the three largest funding sources, which include local appropriations, state aid and federal grants for each local education agency in Maryland. In addition, the report examines private contributions to public K-12 education and describes methods used to solicit contributions from private individuals, businesses, corporations and foundations to support public school systems in the United States.
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Academic Achievement: College and Career Readiness
Briefing: The EC Committee will receive a briefing about MCPS academic performance data. The presentation will focus on metrics and outcomes related to college and career readiness benchmarks and performance standards. In addition, representatives from MCPS will provide highlights of data collected in the first half of the school year. This is part of an ongoing series of EC Committee meetings to review and discuss academic performance data with MCPS in alignment with the Board of Education reviews of academic data and outcomes.
The Committee meeting schedule may change from time to time. View the current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review on the Council website.
Council and committee meetings are streamed live on the Council’s web page via YouTube and on Facebook Live and can be watched on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity/RCN 6 HD 996/1056, Fios 30, and on the CCM live stream.
Release ID: 24-135