Parents, teachers and students urge Montgomery County Council to fully fund MCPS budget; paraeducators, restorative justice and special education top requests

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Dozens of teachers, union leaders, students and principals told the Montgomery County Council on April 8 that the Board of Education’s FY26 operating budget needs full funding to preserve services for special education students, bilingual and emergent multilingual learners, and school-based supports.

Speakers said understaffing has left classrooms, special education programs and support services strained. “This budget begins to mend that problem by adding crucial positions,” David Stein, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, said, urging the council to approve the board’s request.

The request matters, advocates said, because staffing shortfalls affect daily operations and legally required services. Several paraeducators described work that includes toileting, feeding and de-escalation in special education settings and said low pay and many temporary, part‑time positions make recruitment and retention difficult. “Many positions are classified as temporary or emergency hires, leaving dedicated staff without job security or benefits,” said Donna Miller, a paraeducator and union representative.

Students and youth leaders urged investment in non-punitive responses to school conflict. Rajon Bell, a junior and member of Young People for Progress, told the council that student arrests in MCPS increased from 56 to 191 in a recent year and that Black students are disproportionately affected. He recommended funding restorative justice programs rather than punitive measures and cited district data on recidivism for students who participate in restorative practices.

Union and school leaders pressed several specific priorities: convert temporary positions (TPT) to permanent roles with benefits, fund paraeducator reclassification and pay increases, hire additional school psychologists and paraprofessionals, maintain negotiated compensation agreements, and retain central-office restorative justice staff and school-based restorative coaches. “This budget solidifies the potential for wages that are commensurate with the quality and quantity of the work we do each day,” Erica Evans, a paraeducator, said.

Principals and administrators described gains they have made and said those gains remain fragile. Ricardo Hernandez, principal of Seneca Valley High School, cited graduation-rate improvements and noted the facility and security needs of a 460,000‑square‑foot campus that serves about 2,800 students. Several speakers said proposed investments are “maintenance‑level” and not extras.

Not all testimony favored the proposed level of spending. One speaker urged fiscal restraint and recommended limiting raises to targeted groups and trimming central bureaucracy; that speaker characterized a possible 3.5 percent property tax increase as unsustainable for some households.

The council’s committee schedule for budget work sessions begins April 9, with full-council work sessions starting May 5, officials said at the hearing. Council members will consider testimony during committee deliberations and may make changes before adopting a final FY26 budget.

The hearing included scores of individual accounts — from teachers describing classroom conditions to students describing discipline experiences — and multiple unions and associations pressed for transparent explanations of any cuts should the council not fully fund the request.