The Montgomery County Board of Education has begun discussing the 2020 budget. Superintendent Jack Smith has recently proposed a roughly 2.1 percent increase from the 2019 fiscal budget, which totaled $2.6 billion.
Additionally, this year MCPS is asking the Montgomery county council to fund approximately $29 million more of the fiscal budget than is required by law, which mandates the level of state and local funding remain constant from year to year. This funding increase was requested to help the Board fulfill all of its goals for the upcoming school years, including giving all students equal opportunities to succeed, and developing programs to prepare students for college and careers.
Walter Johnson (WJ) senior Julia Eisen believes MCPS’ biggest priority for the 2020 budget should be to fund schools that need it the most.
“More money in the budget should be given to the schools that need it so they can start improving their facilities and their education program[s] so the schools in Montgomery County can be equal,” Eisen said.
In his address to the the Board of Education, Smith emphasized this same point. He explained the importance of ensuring that all students are successful, not just the ones at highly ranked schools.
“MCPS has had a long history of high achievement for many students— but not all. Our data indicate that some students have not yet realized their potential…We will not be great until all students are achieving at that potential,” Smith said.
He looks to achieve this goal by focusing on the expansion of programs designed for student success, such as career and technology (CTE) programs, the Career Readiness Education Academy, and programs to help more students gain associate’s degrees in high school.
In addition to expanding academic programs, Smith also seeks to provide students with more guidance and support in their learning environments. This can be accomplished through the hiring of more psychologists, assistant principals and English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) transition counselors.
WJ senior Maayan Naveh agrees that MCPS needs to prioritize the addition of more psychologists, guidance counselors and college counselors.
“There are many high schoolers, and I’m sure many middle and elementary schoolers [too] who could really benefit from having a trusted, trained mentor they can turn to,” Naveh said.
While many already support these ambitious initiatives, a lot more discussion and debate about the proposal will occur in the coming weeks. The board will hold several public hearings in January and numerous board work sessions to iron out the details. Their final budget decision for Fiscal Year 2020 will be made on February 12, 2019.
If you want to give your input and ideas about the budget proposal, there is currently a survey on the MCPS website receiving responses: https://mcpsweb.wufoo.com/forms/mbvxc5f1deuqfu/
Article by MoCo Student staff writer Courtney Cohn of Walter Johnson High School