Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Kidd Museum topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Kidd Museum leaders and students highlight STEM gains as committee preliminarily preserves funding
Summary
Kidd Museum presenters told the committee April 27 that county support makes their STEM programming possible, citing a near-$2.5M county-recommended NDA, a FY26 MCPS contract under $650,000 that reached ~4,500 students, and survey claims of short-term math gains in pilot work.
Kidd Museum representatives told the Montgomery County Education & Culture Committee that county funding underwrites a mix of facility, programming and partnership costs that enable their STEM programs and teacher training.
Cara (Kidd representative) framed the organization as an ‘innovation lab’ that serves students and trains teachers; she said Kidd has served “over 500,000 people since we started in 2014,” now serves about 35,000 people directly each year, and reaches roughly 40,000 more through teacher-training programs. The packet shows the county executive’s recommended FY27 funding level for Kidd as just under $2,500,000.
The presentation included program metrics: a claimed 9-percentage-point math gain among underperforming students in a short pilot and a statistic that 84% of participating middle-school students reported increased confidence in STEM. A teacher who partners with Kidd described curriculum kits and remote learning adjustments during COVID that expanded student access. A student speaker described how volunteering and paid roles at Kidd expanded leadership and college pathways.
Staff and council members probed Kidd’s business model and sustainability: staff noted Kidd relies on contributed and earned income and that the county covers a substantial portion of facility and administrative costs; Kidd cited a FY26 MCPS contract of about $650,000 serving roughly 4,500 students. The committee gave preliminary approval to a same-services budget for Kidd, with any broader funding adjustments to be decided by the full council.
