Family & Education

MoCo school board cut hundreds of MCPS positions. What happens next?

District to get ‘creative’ to fill staffing gaps, Taylor says

By

Ashlyn Campbell

June 10, 2026 10:13 a.m.

Share

Facebook X ReddIt Email Print Copy URL

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Thomas Taylor says the district will have to “be creative” to ensure students and families receive the support they need following the school board’s decision last week to cut 415 existing and proposed positions to close a budget gap for the coming fiscal year. 

The board’s decision will result in a loss of about 255 existing positions, taking into account the nearly 160 newly proposed positions that won’t be filled, according to the list of cuts. 

“I think it’s important to take a look at the bigger picture, the whole picture. There are definitely going to be gaps that are not going to be present right away that we’re going to have to look hard at,” Taylor told reporters during a Thursday afternoon press conference in Rockville following the school board’s vote to adopt a $3.72 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2027. “We are going to have to be creative, and we’re going to also leverage partners in our community differently.”  

The board voted 7-1 to approve the budget, bringing an end to emotionally-fraught deliberations following the County Council’s May adoption of a $7.9 billion county operating budget – including the $3.72 billion for MCPS that represented a $143 million year-over-year spending increase for the district. That MCPS budget represented a $36 million shortfall between the district’s expenses and its approved funding.     

- Advertisement -

The list of reductions includes newly proposed positions — such as 28 new security assistant jobs — in place of some existing jobs that had initially been on the chopping block earlier in budget deliberations.  

Exactly what positions are being cut?  

Along with board members and MCPS staff, Taylor has said the specific cuts are necessary to close the $36 million budget gap while reducing the direct classroom impact on students — although staff members whose jobs were on the line and union leaders raised concerns about the impact on the well-being of students and families. 

Many of the existing positions that have been cut – such as social workers, family engagement specialists, and pupil personnel workers — provide support to students and families. 

“We are deeply disappointed by the Board of Education’s decision to eliminate these vital support staff positions,” Travis Simon, executive director of SEIU Local 500, the union that represents MCPS support staff, said Thursday in a statement. “These cuts will have a detrimental impact on employee workloads, professional development opportunities and, most importantly, the students and communities — particularly communities of color, first-generation and new students — who rely on these essential services every day.”  

Sponsored

Maryland Dog Bite Laws: What Victims Need to Know About Liability and Compensation

Modifying Child Custody in Maryland: When and Why a Change May Be Appropriate

Featured Now

Here are existing positions that are being eliminated: 

• About 43 social workers; 

• 40 English composition assistants; 

• 27 pupil personnel workers;   

• 27 MCPS central office jobs plus 81 positions that were already identified to be cut as part of Taylor’s initial budget request to reduce the number of employees in the office; 

• 27 “school-based positions” that were not specified;  

• 21 family engagement specialists; 

• 21 maintenance workers; 

• 17 emergent multilingual learner therapeutic counselors;   

• 12 media assistants; and  

• Three administrative positions assigned to upcoming Crown High School in Gaithersburg; 

The board also voted to cut the following new positions that had been included in the fiscal year 2027 budget: 

• 118 special education resource teachers;  

• 28 safety and security officers; and  

• 12 literacy specialists for middle and high schools.  

What happens next? 

During Thursday’s press conference, Taylor said the district had not begun hiring for the new positions that had been in the budget so there would be no loss of staff from those cuts. For existing employees whose positions are being terminated, Taylor said the district has to follow a process outlined in its contracts with the MCPS employee unions.  

“We have tried to do the very best of our ability … to communicate as broadly as we could with staff,” Taylor said. “There’s a layer of formality where people will receive official notifications from our human resources and talent management team, and we’re going to follow the processes as outlined in our union contracts.”  

Contracts for the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which is the local teachers union, and SEIU Local 500, state that union members who lose their jobs because of staff reductions will be given priority consideration for a period of time following the reduction.  

- Advertisement -

To help offset the pending staff cuts, MCPS offered on May 22 to pay up to $12,000 as an incentive to employees who are eligible to retire as of July 1. The deadline to apply was June 5. MCPS spokesperson Liliana Lopez said Monday the number of employees who applied for the retirement incentive was not yet available.  

Digital Partners

---

Originally published at Bethesdamagazine