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Kidd Museum appeals for clearer county funding after federal grant loss, committee signals support for 3% increase
Summary
At a Montgomery County Education and Culture Committee meeting, Kidd Museum leaders described a recent $250,000 federal grant termination and urged clearer oversight of multiple local funding streams; the committee indicated support for a 3% inflationary increase and asked staff to explore consolidating related county funding into a single NDA without reducing total resources.
Kidd Museum leaders told the Montgomery County Education and Culture Committee that local support is critical after the museum lost a federal grant and faces uncertain federal funding going into FY26.
"Everything we do is through hands on experiential learning, that brings joy back into learning and gets kids, families, teachers, our full community engaged in this work," said Kara Lesser, founder and executive director of Kidd Museum, in a presentation to the committee. She said the museum has reached "more than 400,000 people" over the past decade and that more than 60% of the students served each year identify as Black or Latino.
The county executive’s recommended FY26 NDA for the Kidd Museum is $1,974,000, staff told the committee. Committee staff and council members noted the museum currently appears in more than one funding stream — including recreation-based funding and the Skills for the Future NDA — and asked whether those separate allocations carry different program requirements or could be administratively consolidated so the committee can more clearly track the county’s support.
Kara Lesser told the committee the museum had a $250,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services that was terminated recently and said another Department of Education grant supporting Latino youth was included in the FY26 projections (described at $700,000 in the meeting). Committee members heard differing references to the museum’s total federal funding (one participant said roughly $1,000,000), and members asked the museum to provide a clear breakdown that ties each funding stream to specific activities.
Council staff summarized the policy question: if the work funded by multiple streams is substantively the same, consolidating the accounts under one NDA could make oversight and tracking simpler — provided that consolidation does not reduce the total resources available to the museum. Chair Will Jawando said the committee would support the county executive’s recommended 3% inflationary increase for nonprofit NDAs this year and asked Kidd Museum and staff to supply an itemized mapping of activities to each funding source before full council consideration.
Board members and trustees present reiterated the museum’s effort to diversify revenue and the urgency of county support after losing federal funds. "We are certainly grateful for your ability to continue it as best you can," said Robbie Brewer, vice chair of the Kidd Museum board.
The committee plans follow-up: staff and members said the Planning, Housing and Parks committee would review related recreation and Skills for the Future funding and that the full council could consolidate accounts at a later stage if committee deliberations show no reduction in resources. The committee also asked the museum to return with a detailed breakdown showing which activities are paid from which funding stream.
The Education and Culture Committee did not take a formal roll-call vote on consolidation. Chair Jawando recorded that, "without objection, we, of course, concur with the increase in the county executive's budget," signaling the panel's support for the 3% adjustment this year. The committee will revisit the consolidation question and the museum’s funding breakdown in follow-up materials and in parallel committee meetings.
