MCPS offers up to $12K retirement incentive as cuts loom for hundreds of employees  

District sends email letter to those eligible to retire July 1 

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May 26, 2026 9:53 a.m. | Updated: May 26, 2026 9:54 a.m.

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To help offset pending staff cuts that educators have said will be devastating to students, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is offering to pay up to $12,000 to employees who are eligible to retire as of July 1 and is giving them two weeks to file their retirement applications, according to a Friday email sent to some staff members.  

“MCPS is currently facing significant budget challenges, resulting in position reductions for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2027 Operating Budget,” the district said in the Friday email. “These retirement incentives are intended to help reduce the impact of those reductions on employees wherever possible.”  

MCPS spokesperson Liliana Lopez said in an email to Bethesda Today on Friday that recipients for the retirement incentives were identified by the “system based on Maryland State Retirement and Pension System eligibility requirements.”  

According to the letter, 10-month employees are being offered $10,000 while 12-month employees are being offered $12,000. Lopez said the number of employees who received the letters was confidential. She didn’t immediately respond to Bethesda Today’s questions about whether staff members who accept the offer also will receive accrued sick leave and other pay.  

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According to the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, employees who are 60 with 15 years of service can obtain early retirement. For normal retirement, employees can be 57 with 33 years of service, 60 with 30 years of service or 63 with 27 years of experience. 

Educators raise concerns about impact of reductions

On Thursday, MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor recommended to the county school board during its Rockville meeting that it eliminate more than 430 full-time equivalent positions to close a $36 million gap between the district’s budget for the coming fiscal year and its allotted funding. The school board is expected to adopt a final MCPS spending plan on June 4.  

Taylor proposed $36.05 million in cuts Thursday, which include the equivalent of 38 social worker jobs at middle, high and alternative schools; 14 family engagement specialists; nearly 27 college and career navigators; about 40 English composition assistants; 18 school psychologists; and 27 pupil personnel workers, among others.   

The news hit hard for those who would be impacted by the cuts. 

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“For a lot of us this is home, and we don’t want to leave, and we really don’t want things to change for the worse,” Harman Kaur, an MCPS school psychologist, told Bethesda Today following the budget presentations.  

Taylor also called for removing 118 new special education resource teacher jobs that had been proposed in the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal to provide a resource teacher at all MCPS elementary schools, learning centers and schools serving specialized populations.  

More than a dozen media assistant jobs also are on the chopping block, reflecting a sharp decrease in the more than 70 positions that Taylor previously had identified as potential cuts. 

On Thursday, several board members asked district officials to explore other non-personnel funding reductions that could be made in the fiscal year 2027 budget. The next fiscal year begins July 1.  

Board member Rita Montoya asked MCPS and the board who will do the work if the board adopts the proposed position cuts, a question echoed by several staff members who would be impacted by the reductions.  

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“I just am concerned that people are not going to get what they need, and that the school system is not going to get what they need as well,” Melanie Travers, a pupil personnel worker, told Bethesda Today. “People will fall through the cracks. Students, children will fall through the cracks.”  

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine