ANSWER:

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, as part of the Superintendent’s Recommended Operating Budget, $250,000 was added to support the creation of an innovation fund to be distributed to highly impacted schools and schools with identified needs. Unfortunately, the County Council approved FY 2021 Operating Budget decreased the Board of Education’s requested budget by $49.2 million. Additionally, this budget process took place from December 2019 through June 2020, as Montgomery County Public Schools was adapting to the ongoing changes resulting from the COVID-19 health pandemic and addressing the ever-changing needs of the students and staff.  As a result, a large portion of the funding for the innovation fund
was realigned to support other needs. The current FY 2023 budget includes $20,000 for the innovation fund to support requests of highly impacted schools to supplement community or school activities that fall outside of the regular budget allocations.