Montgomery County Public Schools staff presented a breakdown of contractual‑services spending to the Fiscal Management Committee on Sept. 17, saying about $111.4 million of the non‑personnel portion of the operating budget is budgeted for contracts that support districtwide operations, technology, school programs and special education.

How the dollars are organized: Carly Thompson, executive director in the division of financial management, explained that contractual services are budgeted both by state budget categories and by organizational chapter. She said category 1 (districtwide services) and category 5 (other instructional costs) are significant drivers of contractual spending, and that technology services and district operations are among the largest chapter‑level commitments. Thompson gave examples of contracted services that fall in those categories: enterprise business systems and disaster‑recovery services under technology; snow removal and recycling under operations; curriculum and supplemental instructional supports under instructional categories; and contracted related‑services (private duty nursing, speech and language) under special education when staff positions cannot be filled.

Board questions on special education and ADA costs: Board members asked why some speech/language, occupational and physical therapy services are procured contractually rather than delivered by staff. Thompson and CFO Yvonne Alfonso Windsor said district preference is to fill positions with staff when possible but contracting supplements staffing where vacancies prevent timely delivery of required services. A board member asked about a growing line item for ADA independent medical consultations; Alfonso Windsor said this funding supports reasonable‑accommodation assessments and has increased over several years.

Transparency and procurement: Staff said the operating budget contains an appendix that explains state budget categories; the procurement office issues contracts and brings vendor approvals to the board in business meetings. Thompson said the district produces a detailed spreadsheet of contractual services that is available to the board and county council and that the 0‑based budgeting review will ask offices to justify contractual‑services requests for FY27.

What’s next: Board members said they will continue to scrutinize contracts for potential to replace with in‑house services where feasible, particularly for high‑cost or recurring contracted services. Thompson and the CFO encouraged board members to request detailed line‑item information from staff and said the procurement and financial management teams will answer follow‑up questions.