By Adam Pagnucco.
The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which represents teachers and other educators in MCPS, has issued a press release blasting the county council for its tax and budget votes today.
MCEA and the other county employee unions had previously urged the council to pass the county executive’s full ten percent property tax hike to fund MCPS’s budget and other priorities. MCEA, MCPS and the other school unions then told the council that 8 increments of $22 million each, or 80% of MCPS’s requested increase, would be the bare minimum acceptable. The council wound up funding 7 increments, or 70% of MCPS’s requested increase, totaling $156 million. That increase and others required a 4.7 percent property tax increase to fund.
That decision prompted MCEA to send out a press release in which they blasted the council for voting to “starve our school system.” The release is reprinted below.
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May 18, 2023
For Immediate Release
Contact: Dalbin Osorio, mceapress@mceanea.org
Montgomery County Council votes to starve our school system
Rockville, MD – The Montgomery County Council followed Teacher Appreciation Week with a choice to effectively defund the Montgomery County Public School district. The council voted 7-4 to pass a 4.7 cent revenue enhancement measure that does not provide sustainable and reliable funding to our schools.
Last week the leadership from three school unions, Superintendent Dr. McKnight, and Board President Karla Silvestre informed the council that the absolute lowest revenue enhancement possible to fund the school budget would be 8 increments of tax-supported funding. Nevertheless, the council voted to pass a measure that deprives students, educators, administrators, and support personnel of substantial resources they desperately need.
Powerful monied interests spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to block a tax that would have fully funded the MCPS budget. Their efforts have largely paid off. Although thousands of students participated in two separate walk-outs, over ten thousand community members signed a petition sent to the county council, and countless others made phone calls advocating for a fully funded budget, most of the council ignored their pleas. Today, the county council showed that they care more about their political future and donations from developers than they do about doing what is right for children, youth, and families. After this vote, we are left to wonder what kind of county they want ours to be.
The council vote today reveals:
1. They are willing to undermine the superintendent in her efforts to improve student learning outcomes and improve safety in our schools.
2. They are willing to let the staffing crisis continue.
3. They are willing to underserve our students.
4. They lack the courage to raise taxes sufficiently to provide sustainable and reliable funding, and instead are willing to resort to raiding one-time funding sources.
We are dismayed by the county council’s decision today to turn their backs on the students and communities they serve. If they hold fast to this decision in their final vote on May 25th, MCEA members will remember their votes the next time candidates seek our endorsement. While the final responsibility for funding our negotiated agreements lies with MCPS, our members will not forget the role the county council played in bringing us to this point.
No more platitudes and proclamations about the importance of educators and our public schools. The educators of MCEA call for the council to reconsider their actions today and fully fund our schools.
MCEA represents more than 14,000 classroom teachers, school counselors, speech pathologists, media specialists and other educators in Montgomery County Public Schools; MCEA is one of the largest local affiliates of the National Education Association (NEA) and is a leader in building a new kind of educators’ union that responds to the needs of today’s educators and students. For more information, visit www.mceanea.org.