A Budget that Invests in Our Students’ Success

A Message from Montgomery County Board of Education President Phil Kauffman and MCPS Superintendent Joshua P. Starr

Dear Friends,

We are writing to share with you that the Montgomery County Council today voted unanimously to provide our schools with a 4 percent operating budget increase for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, which includes next school year. With a final vote expected next week, the Council is essentially meeting the Board of Education’s budget request, which so many of you championed during budget hearings, in letters, and in conversations with our elected leaders. On behalf of our students and staff, we want to thank you for your advocacy and support.

We appreciate the County Council finding a way to fund the FY 2015 budget, which is part of a multiyear strategy that will allow us to keep up with our continued enrollment growth and invest in strategies that will help us narrow the achievement gap and prepare our students for new standards and higher expectations. Among the investments this budget funds are—

• teachers and staff to serve an additional 2,500 students;
• more high school teachers to lower class sizes in math and English in schools with the largest achievement gaps in these core areas;
• additional staff to support our growing population of English language learners, especially in middle schools;
• a “Career Lattice” that places highly effective educators in leadership roles in our schools with the highest needs;
• additional counselors, school psychologists, and pupil personnel workers; and
• funds to increase parent involvement and community engagement.

The budget also includes well-deserved compensation increases for our staff. They are the ones who are working so hard to give our students the education they deserve and prepare them for the future they want. We are asking our employees to contribute more for their health benefits and appreciate their continued collaboration on controlling the rising cost of doing business.

Next year’s budget is based on a plan developed by County Council President Craig Rice that takes $26 million from an account that funds future retiree benefits and applies it to next year’s operating budget. These funds will be combined with surpluses from our general fund and health care accounts, allowing the Council to provide MCPS with a $91 million budget increase for FY 2015.

We supported this plan because it meets our immediate needs, but we  remain concerned about future years. We anticipate needing at least $135 million in additional funding for FY 2016 in order to replace the one-time funding sources used in the FY 2015 budget, meet our ongoing obligations, keep up with our growth, and continue to invest in strategies that will help us close the achievement and opportunity gaps. And because of how the Council is funding the FY 2015 budget, we will not have significant surpluses we can apply to future budgets.

County Executive Isiah Leggett, Council President Rice, and other Council members have made a very public commitment to help us meet the needs of all MCPS students next year and beyond. We are grateful for their partnership and look forward to working with them to fund the future for our students.

Our county leaders, like us, know that the continued success of MCPS is crucial to ensuring a bright future for Montgomery County. And they know that will require us to continue to invest strategically, responsibly, and collaboratively to provide our students with the instruction and opportunities they need to be successful.

Thank you for your continued support of our students!

Sincerely,

Phil Kauffman, President Montgomery County Board of Education

Joshua P. Starr, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools