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 funds and personnel closer to schools, adopting cross-functional teams to support literacy, math and special education on the ground, and hiring additional staff where state and district staffing guidelines show gaps. MCPS said the FY26 package would add a total of 688 special-education-related FTEs (about 500 paraprofessionals and the remainder classroom positions), convert roughly 360 part-time paraprofessionals to full-time positions to improve retention and stability, and add roughly 60 new classroom teacher positions associated with special education needs.

The budget also proposes 55 additional school security assistants, to be deployed by incident and need; MCPS staff told the council they expect about 35 of those assignments to address elementary schools (where the district currently has no dedicated security assistants), about 10 at middle schools and about seven at high schools. The administration said the security staffing plan is a first-phase move and will be revisited in future budgets as part of a broader strategy to improve school climate and safety.

On technology, the committee marked a $1,098,000 reduction in the MCPS TechMod (technology modernization) appropriation as a reconciliation item. OMB staff explained that the county executive had deferred some CIP/current-revenue TechMod funding in March to preserve operating capacity; the committee voted to put that $1.098 million back onto the reconciliation list for Council deliberation.

Committee members pressed MCPS on hiring timelines. MCPS said hiring for the new positions will be concentrated in May and June (the district's prime recruiting season), with strong indicators of final hiring by July and some continued hires into August. The district reported it hires more than 1,000 positions annually and that the national teacher-shortage environment makes recruitment and retention a priority: converting part-time paraprofessionals to full-time roles is intended as a retention strategy.

CFO Alfonso Windsor described the negotiated path to reduce the employee benefits deficit: participation in a prescription savings program, enhanced care management, and changes negotiated with employee associations that take effect in phases (January and then annualized). She said those steps should stop the annual increase in the deficit next year, reduce it significantly the following year, and return the fund to a positive balance in the third year, while cautioning that cash flows will remain strained during the transition.

Council members repeatedly emphasized accountability and asked for measurable, public metrics. MCPS said it is revising its strategic plan and will publish a public scorecard tied to Maryland's state report card metrics (including the county's aspiration that all schools reach four or more stars). The superintendent said the state report card provides an accessible way for the Council and public to monitor progress across achievement and growth measures.

The committee also asked MCPS to evaluate programs and eliminate or reallocate funding for programs that do not produce results. MCPS said it has a research and evaluation team that reviews programs and uses a 'red/yellow/green' approach; the district described plans to use a more zero-based budgeting approach in the future so that funding follows demonstrable impact.

The committee's unanimous recommendation to fund the MCPS FY26 request will now move to full Council deliberations. Several items directly affecting the final Council vote were placed on the reconciliation list: the $1.098 million TechMod funding question and other additions tied to pension and benefit cost shifts that OMB and MCPS said will affect the county and district budgets. No final appropriations were adopted at the meeting.

Members of the public, the Board of Education and the MCPS leadership will have further opportunities to brief the full Council during the reconciliation process this spring and summer; the Council's final actions will determine how the district's staffing, benefits deficit, and program changes are implemented for FY26.