By Adam Pagnucco.
The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which represents teachers, guidance counselors, speech pathologists, media specialists and other educators in MCPS, has issued the statement below on MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight’s recommended budget. MCPS has not posted McKnight’s full budget yet, but Bethesda Beat has reported on it.
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MCEA Responds to the Superintendent’s Budget Proposal
We’re encouraged to see that the superintendent is asking for additional funding to support our staff and students. There are, however, many needs that will not be fully addressed by the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) 2023-2024 budget proposed on Monday, December 19. As Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight pointed out at Monday’s presentation, MCPS educator salaries have fallen behind wages in other systems in Maryland, but our county has the highest cost of living in the state. And per pupil spending when adjusted for inflation has yet to meet the amount spent per student in 2009.
While the cost of living in Montgomery County has risen more than 60% since 2002, teacher salaries have fallen by 15-17% when adjusted for inflation.
Teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions. Understaffing has led to overcrowded classrooms and high caseloads for all service providers, including special educators, counselors, school psychologists, and English language teachers. Educators struggle to do their jobs while picking up extra duties caused by inadequate staffing and growing student need.
While we applaud Dr. McKnight’s proposals to expand universal pre-K, dual-language immersion programs, and to waive fees for AP and IB tests, MCEA proposes to go further, urging MCPS to also offer free meals to all students and eliminate fees for field trips and other student activities.
Food security is a real issue for many students across this county, but many do not apply for aid out of fear or a sense of shame. Every school day, educators see how learning is affected by a student’s access to adequate nutrition during the school day.
By removing fees as a barrier for student participation in field trips and other activities, MCPS would ensure equity in access to experiential learning, which has been proven to increase student engagement and academic success.
In medicine, there is the understanding that effective treatment requires an efficacious dose—if not enough medicine is given health will not be restored. Similarly, the MCPS budget needs a bigger investment to be an efficacious dose to restore the excellence of our public schools. We plan to continue working with the superintendent to reach a recommended budget that fully funds and supports our teachers and students. MCEA is ready to press the county executive and council for the money needed to once again make MCPS a destination school system for both staff and students.