Rockville, MD – On Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, the Montgomery County Board of Education voted unanimously to tentatively adopt MCPS’ Operating Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. This budget, Superintendent Thomas W. Taylor's first for the district, aims to address existing challenges, bolster essential school support and prioritize a return to academic excellence through multi-year corrective measures.

The $3.6 billion budget focuses on fundamentals by investing directly in schools, supporting student success and addressing structural deficits.

The amended budget represents a $36,762,985 increase over the $3.62 billion initially recommended by Dr. Taylor to the Board on Dec. 18, 2024. The increase assumes the full impact of Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s proposed FY 2026 state budget. The state budget introduces potential reductions in state aid due to a delay in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future legislation, a significant shift in teacher pension costs from the state to Montgomery County and a decrease in reimbursements that MCPS receives for students in non-public schools.

The adopted budget includes:

• Adding 689 educator positions to meet current staffing guidelines for special education and adding 47 educator positions to support students who are Emergent Multilingual Learners.
• Maintaining competitive staff salaries, including employee wage adjustments on par with wage adjustments for county government employees.
• Increasing material resources to schools based on specific student populations determined by the number of students receiving FARMs, special education and Emergent Multilingual Learner services.
• Adding resources to address the underfunding of the district’s self-insured employee benefits plan.
• Funding to keep the district on track in meeting the requirements of Maryland’s Blueprint for Education.
• Adding 52 positions to address concerns about school safety.

This adopted budget also includes a local contribution request of $2.41 billion, a decrease of $991,164 compared to the amount in the Recommended FY 2026 Operating Budget from Dec. 2024. The decrease was mainly possible due to: 

• The Board’s request to not include funding for the renaming process of Col. Zadok Magruder High School. 
• A reduction in professional leadership development funding.
• An increase in savings from lapse and turnover to reflect the impact of adding positions. 

Community Feedback

Community input was critical to the adoption of the tentative budget. Two public hearings (Thursday, Jan. 16 and Monday, Jan. 27), three budget work sessions (Tuesday, Jan. 14, Thursday, Jan. 23 and Thursday, Jan. 30) and three community meetings (Wednesday, Jan. 22, Tuesday, Jan. 28 and Thursday, Jan. 30) were offered for community members to learn about the budget process and to provide feedback on how the budget will reflect the direct needs of the community. 

Community members are encouraged to provide their input and support for the proposed budget during upcoming public hearings with the Montgomery County Council. 

Next Steps

The budget will be submitted to the Montgomery County Executive and County Council on Feb. 28, 2025, for consideration and is expected to be finalized by May 22, 2025. Final adoption by the Board of Education is expected on Tuesday, June 10, 2025.

Resources

• Watch Superintendent Taylor's Budget Presentation. 
• Visit https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/budget/ for more information on the FY 2026 budget.