‘Do your job’: MCPS educators urge MoCo Council to preserve school funding

April 10, 2026 11:40 a.m.

Hundreds of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) educators called for robust school funding during a rally outside the council office building in Rockville. Credit: Ashlyn Campbell

Outside the Montgomery County Council office building in Rockville on Wednesday, chants of “do your job” rang out as hundreds of educators in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) urged the council to fully fund the district’s requested $3.79 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2027.

“We need the County Council, when times are tough, to stand up and do their jobs,” David Stein, president of the local teachers union Montgomery County Education Association, told the crowd in Rockville before a council hearing on County Executive Marc Elrich’s proposed $8 billion county operating budget. “We’re not asking. We are demanding.”

The Montgomery County school board tentatively approved a $3.79 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2027 in February, a spending plan that was roughly $10.4 million higher than MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s initial recommendation. The council is reviewing the spending plan as part of Elrich’s budget proposal.

“We’ve made some tweaks and adjustments to a couple of staffing standards, added some things back in, streamlined in a couple other areas,” Taylor said before the board unanimously approved his spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

- Advertisement -

Taylor’s proposed budget includes staff salary increases and a goal of reducing elementary school class sizes by at least one student. The proposal calls for cutting 50 central office positions and introduces a tiered approach based on poverty data to determine class sizes and school staffing guidelines.

Nearly $140 million would be spent on salaries and benefits, including a 3.25% base salary increase for staff.

On Wednesday, Taylor told the rally crowd that local leaders needed to answer the question of whether the county would “invest in tomorrow or yesterday.”

“Sometimes there’s a big disconnect in the understanding that our community has — because they think that when price rises and affordability becomes a concern in the community that somehow we’re exempt from all of that,” he said. “That’s just not the case, because the cost of food and utilities does not freeze for teachers and for school staff.”

Sponsored

Greater Washington Unites to Launch Digital Workforce Tool for Federal Workers

Where Convenience, Value, and Luxury Come Home Together

Featured Now

Patricia Warnock-Safford, a librarian at Oakland Terrace Elementary School in the Wheaton-Glenmont area, wore an apple costume to the rally for school funding outside the council office building in Rockville. Credit: Ashlyn Campbell

Elrich did not make any changes to the MCPS budget and has proposed increasing the commercial and residential property tax rate by 6.3 cents — from $1.026 to $1.089 — per $100 of assessed value to pay for school spending.

The council has until June 1 to take action on the operating budget and capital spending plan for fiscal year 2027. Eight members of the 11-member council must vote to pass the budget package.

Addressing large class sizes was the main focus of many educators in attendance on Wednesday, including Crystal Grayson, an English teacher at Wheaton High School.

“We want our class sizes to be smaller than they are right now,” Grayson told Bethesda Today at the rally. “They’re way too big, and our students, especially with [specialized] services, are not getting the attention that they need.”

Other unions in attendance also expressed support for the budget, including SEIU Local 500, which represents support staff, and the Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals.

- Advertisement -

“Part of our debt is that we are all part of a village, a village that must educate, nurture and protect our future,” Pia Morrison, president of SEIU Local 500, told the crowd at the rally. “So often, this County Council fails to acknowledge how MCPS has to stand in the gap for families who need access to a variety of social services and supports.”

Public hearing

Funding for schools and educational programming was also a major issue for those who spoke during Wednesday’s public hearing on Elrich’s proposed operating budget.

Multiple speakers urged the council to include funding to expand Excel Beyond the Bell, a partnership between the county Department of Recreation, MCPS and the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families.

The after-school program provides recreational and social programming, academic support, meals and bus transportation to students at eight middle schools, according to the Recreation Department website.

Lauren Brown, the parent of a student at Stedwick Elementary in Montgomery Village, urged the council to fund Excel Beyond the Bell at the school, which is not currently served by the program.

She said many of the school’s parents work multiple jobs or odd hours to make ends meet, making it difficult or impossible for them to be home when their children get out of school at 3:45 p.m.

“When you are already making an impossible decision about rent, food [and] transportation, hundreds of dollars a month for child care is out of reach,” Brown said. “This gap doesn’t just affect the elementary school students — it ripples through the entire school community.”

Members of SEIU Local 500, which represents Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) support staff, were among those at a rally for school funding outside the council office building in Rockville. Credit: Ashlyn Campbell

Jason Alexander, an MCPS paraeducator and a member of SEIU local 500, urged the council to “say no to any staff suggestions to reduce proposed general wage adjustments.”

Alexander also called on the council to continue working to repair projected shortfalls in the fund for MCPS employee health benefits — a key issue in the council’s fiscal year 2026 budget deliberations.

“MCPS needs to be funded enough to keep contractual obligations to the workforce,” Alexander said. “Breaking contracts is not the way to maintain a strong workforce.”

Rommel Calderwood, a resident of council District 6, spoke at the public hearing in opposition to the proposed property tax increase to fund MCPS. District 6 includes Wheaton, Forest Glen, Glenmont, Aspen Hill and other surrounding areas.

“I understand the importance of funding our schools and maintaining strong county services,” Calderwood said. “However, this proposal comes at a time when many residents like myself are already struggling with the unprecedented unaffordability crisis.”

Like many county residents, Calderwood works for the federal government. He said federal employees received only a 1% cost-of-living adjustment this year and are not expected to receive any pay increases next year.

“Teachers, federal employees, nurses, small business workers and retirees on fixed incomes are all feeling squeezed in this current environment,” he said. “At a time when residents are being asked to do more with less, the council should be doing the same.”

In addition to the property tax increase, Elrich’s fiscal year 2027 operating budget proposal also calls for a 0.1% increase to the income tax rate, from 3.2% to 3.3%.

The council plans to hold separate public hearings on the proposed increases to the county’s property and income tax rates on April 21, according to this week’s meeting agenda.

Digital Partners

Originally published at Bethesdamagazine