Thursday afternoon’s Board of Education (BOE) meeting began with President Karla Silvestre acknowledging that staff reductions are possible during what she called a challenging budget.
Montgomery County councilmembers approved a $7.1 billion budget Thursday morning that left Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) slightly short of its $3.3 billion request. Because of that, Silvestre said that “significant adjustments are necessary.”
Councilmembers approved a budget includes 99.2% of the financial requests from the BOE, about $30 million less than requested.
According to reports, 143 teachers may be laid off and 177 people who were awarded contracts for future positions upon their college graduation could have their job offers rescinded.
“To our staff, I want to say we do not make these decisions easily, and they are not our first choice. A decision to reduce staff has no reflection on the performance and the dedication of our MCPS educators,” Silvestre said.
The BOE will vote on its budget on June 11.
Before the start of the meeting, dozens of Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) members clad in red shirts were not permitted into the meeting room. Once appointments of new administrators were made, some members were allowed to enter.
MCEA members held a rally outside before the meeting started, and chanted “Cut from the top,” demanding that administrators, rather than teachers face layoffs.
