Montgomery County Council committee backs full funding for MCPS budget amid pension and staffing strains

The Montgomery County Council's Education and Culture Committee unanimously recommended that the full Council support Montgomery County Public Schools' FY26 operating budget request, including funding to address special education, emergent multilingual learners and school safety, the committee said during a series of work sessions.

The recommendation followed four committee briefings in which the superintendent, the Board of Education president and MCPS finance staff outlined a budget the system said is aimed at stabilizing classrooms and reversing multi-year declines in academic outcomes.

MCPS leaders told the committee the budget request includes measures intended to increase staffing in high-need special education classrooms, add school-based security support, and preserve technology modernization while noting a separate, large structural problem: a shortfall in the district's employee benefits fund. Chief Financial Officer Ivana Alfonso Windsor told the committee the fund faces an estimated $75 million deficit for this fiscal year, up from a $40 million shortfall reported last year, and presented a multi-year plan negotiated with employee groups to reduce and then eliminate the deficit over roughly three years.

Superintendent Taylor and Board of Education President Julie Yang framed the request as a course-correction: the district is moving…