On Thursday, the county council approved a $7.1 billion operating budget, including $3.3 billion for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
The vote came as councilmembers just found out the school system is considering laying off 143 teachers and rescinding 177 contracts from future teachers in order to make the budget work.
Two councilmembers — Councilmember Will Jawando and Councilmember Kristin Mink — abstained from voting on the MCPS budget. Jawando said the potential cuts are “really unconscionable” and Mink said no teachers will come to MCPS if they know their contract can be broken. The other nine councilmembers voted for the school system’s budget.
Councilmember Evan Glass blasted the school board — “shame on them, blindsiding us, blindsiding our educators, blindsiding the entire community.”
Council President Andrew Friedson noted the council approved 99.2% of the school board’s recommended budget.
“The idea that at 99.2% of your request that you would have to lay people off or break contracts, that really calls into question the fiscal management,” Friedson told MCM. “99.2% should require some modest adjustments, it should not require draconian action.”
Friedson criticized the “late-breaking, last-minute, Hail Mary type information.”
“We’ve been going about this budget for months, and we have been working collaboratively with the Board of Education and with MCPS and this is just not the way to run a school system.”
Jawando told MCM hopefully the number of layoffs can be reduced.
