Editor’s note: This story was originally published at 5:06 p.m. on June 7. It was updated at 11:08 a.m. on June 10 to include comments made by Councilmember Will Jawando on The Politics Hour.
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is “unlikely” to layoff educators to help close a spending gap in its operating budget for the next fiscal year, teachers union President Jennifer Martin said in a video message posted Friday on social media.
“We’re winning, but we can’t stop now. There’s still no commitment to prevent furloughs to honor open contracts, or to put every teacher in a placement that doesn’t disrupt their lives and the lives of their family,” said Martin, head of the Montgomery County Education Association.
Martin didn’t elaborate in her message about how she knows there won’t be layoffs.
When contacted by MoCo360 for comment Friday afternoon on Martin’s statement, MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram said in an email: “We’ll have more on that next week, even as early as Monday.” He did not elaborate.
According to a Tuesday email to families from Interim MCPS Superintendent Monique Felder, the district is planning to increase class sizes and reduce the amount of its central office staff as part of its efforts to close a roughly $30 million deficit in next year’s school operating budget.
District officials previously said the increase in class sizes was likely to result in the layoffs of up to 150 educators.
The decisions come as MCPS grapples with making budget cuts following the County Council’s adoption of a $7.1 billion county operating budget for fiscal year 2025, which includes $3.3 billion for the school district. The council’s allocation funds 99.2% of the school board’s recommended budget and is the highest-ever amount of funding for MCPS, but district officials say it is not enough to fully fund all programs and services.
Following the council vote, Felder and Board of Education President Karla Silvestre notified families of several budget adjustments the district was considering including class size increases, reductions in central office employees, delaying pre-kindergarten expansion and reducing services from CollegeTracks, which offers college access services to underserved students.
The school board is expected Tuesday to approve the budget for fiscal 2025, which starts July 1.
Union officials have been protesting and rallying against the proposed cuts since the school system’s announcement about proposed cuts. According to Martin, members are planning to rally at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring to raise support for increasing the budget.
District officials also announced the elimination of the Montgomery Virtual Academy last Thursday. Some parents described the decision as a “gut punch” to students and families that rely on the virtual learning program. On Monday afternoon, students enrolled in the academy staged a sit-in at the district’s Rockville headquarters to protest the program’s expected closure at the end of the school year.
The school board had requested more than $4.2 million for the virtual academy next school year, according to its FY 2025 recommended budget. The budget request also included 52.2 full-time equivalent positions for the academy.
According to Felder’s email, class sizes are expected to increase by one student across all grade levels in the next school year. As a result of the increase, “staffing changes” will follow, Felder wrote. In previous communications regarding class size increases, school officials said the increase would result in 100 to 150 educator layoffs.
“We know that staff and families are understandably concerned about these reductions,” Felder wrote Tuesday. “However, we want to reiterate our commitment to mitigating their impact on student learning. MCPS remains dedicated to providing excellent teaching and learning and does so by maintaining a highly qualified workforce in schools and offices.”
Felder also noted that school-based services such as counselors, school psychologists and pupil personnel workers would not be impacted by the staffing reductions.
In an interview with WAMU’s The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi on Friday, Councilmember and Education and Culture Committee Chair Will Jawando (D-At-large) said MCPS thought they could avoid layoffs if enough faculty retired.
“They thought they could absorb that through retirements. Less people retired. And you know what they did in the weeks since we passed the budget? They extended the deadline of when you can retire with full benefits till yesterday,” Jawando said. “A couple hundred more people retired. That sounds like a good thing, but it’s not because your most experienced teachers who were gonna stick around are now gone.”
The district is also reducing its central office staff by 21 employees. Felder did not specify in her letter which offices or departments would be impacted by the layoffs or how much money the school system would save based on the reductions.
“We need our county leaders to cough up $10 million more to prevent overcrowded classrooms and crushing workloads. We can’t let them solve their problems on our backs,” Martin said in the video.