MCPS rejects report saying its budgeting, staffing, harms Black, Latino students

County Office of Legislative Oversight found district choices to be ‘not equitable’

July 20, 2026 6:00 p.m.

An empty classroom. - Image Credit: Elia Griffin

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) pushed back Friday against a report released by the Montgomery County Office of Legislative Oversight that said the school systems’ budgeting and staffing practices center and privilege white students and disproportionately harm Black and Latino students.

“This report draws sweepingly dark conclusions from a narrowly defined and biased perspective of budget programming and allocation,” MCPS said in a Friday letter to the County Council that was shared with Bethesda Today on Sunday. “It is unacceptable and irresponsible to accuse a public agency of racist resource allocation without substantial evidence, which this report does not provide.”

The report was conducted after the County Council asked the Office of Legislative Oversight to study budget equity within the district to ensure that “every dollar is put to the best use to serve the greatest needs in our schools,” the report said.

According to the report, the underfunding of programs focused on addressing the impacts of poverty on student achievement and the concentration of inexperienced staff in schools with high poverty rates disproportionately hurts Black and Latino students.

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“MCPS advances budget equity for students with disabilities by robustly funding its special education programs,” the July 14 report by the Office of Legislative Oversight noted. “MCPS’ budgeting for programs to meet the learning needs of [students eligible for free and reduced-price meals] and [emergent multilingual learners] however, is not equitable.”

In the Friday letter, the school district rejected many of the conclusions the report came to, noting that the district is bound by the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.

The report identified 15 key findings, including that the district’s budgeting practices center and privilege white students, harm Black and Latino students, especially harm Black students who are ineligible for special education or are emergent multilingual learners and that the fiscal year 2027 budget will widen funding and staffing inequalities.

MCPS said in its letter that the findings repeat demographic data, present correlations between budget data and performance gaps with “unverified assumptions” and draws conclusions without context of requirements for the district.

The report’s findings, recommendations

According to the report, Black and Latino students account for most students who receive services for students who qualify for Free And Reduced-Price Meals (FARMS), a measure of poverty, or emergent multilingual learners (EML). White students with service needs are primarily served in special education and gifted and talented programs.

Despite similar levels of academic performance for students who utilize services, according to the report, MCPS budgets nearly $30,000 per student for special education, $4,000 per student for EML and $1,400 per student for “compensatory education,” or programs that “offset the adverse impacts of household poverty on student achievement.”

The report noted that there are more students who qualify for FARMS or EML than special education, but the district allocates more staffing for special education.

According to the report, MCPS budget and staffing practices prioritize special education over EML or programs for FARMS students and doesn’t publish data related to gifted and talented programs.

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“MCPS’ inequitable budgeting practices disproportionately harm Latinx and Black students who are more likely to depend on EML and compensatory education programs,” The report said. “The under-funding of EML and compensatory education programs also disadvantages Black and Latinx students regardless of their FARMS or EML status because they are more likely to attend high FARMS schools with high levels of unmet needs.”

The report recommended making several changes to budget practices to “increase accountability for budget equity for compensatory education, EML programs, high-FARMS schools, and Latinx and Black students.” This included relaunching a budget to track spending and outcomes for services provided to students.

The report also recommended investing additional funds into compensatory and EML programs to meet Black and Latino students’ needs and to “center BIPOC students and students with low incomes” when allocating resources.

MCPS’ response

In the letter to the council, MCPS staff pushed back against many of the findings, saying that the comparison of funding for special education and other programs “represents a fundamental misunderstanding of special education.” Also, the district argued, the report does not reflect the realities and requirements related to special education, because the district has legal requirements that it must fulfill even if the federal government doesn’t provide funding.

The district also said gifted and talented is not a separately funded program.

In response to the findings that MCPS privileges white students and harms Black and Latino students, the district said they were “inflammatory accusations that are not substantiated with true evidence,” and that they categorically rejected the conclusions.

The district noted that it recently updated its staffing standards, and the result was a tiered system based on FARMS rates. It also pointed to its “equity add-on initiative” aimed at providing more supplies based on levels of FARMS, EML and special education.

“We were disappointed to receive this report that elevates unnecessarily inflammatory assumptions based on faulty premises,” MCPS said. “We believe that Montgomery County agencies should work as a team to better serve our community’s most precious resource-our children. Throwing stones is not the work of responsible public servants.”

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine