By Adam Pagnucco.
Last month, Council President Andrew Friedson introduced a one-time $20 million special appropriation to provide aid for businesses called the J.O.B.S. (Jobs, Opportunities and Business Support) program. Here is how council staff described its purpose:
This special appropriation will establish three initiatives: a $10 million Job Creation Fund, a $7 million Innovation Fund, and a $3 million Equity Fund (see memorandum from Council President Friedson attached at ©1). The Job Creation Fund will provide a financial incentive for employers that create and fill high-paying jobs in Montgomery County. The Innovation Fund will promote innovative technology by supporting prototype development and pilot projects that help advance Montgomery County entrepreneurs towards commercialization. The Equity Fund will help early and growth-stage small Montgomery County companies that are either majority owned by entrepreneurs from underserved communities or located in a Montgomery County Equity Focus area.
Friedson’s appropriation is co-sponsored by every council member except Natali Fani-Gonzalez and Evan Glass.
MCPS’s three unions – the teachers, support staff and supervisors – have previously called for fully funding the school district’s budget request, which the county executive’s recommended budget does not do. Now they have taken notice of this $20 million proposal and are demanding that the money be used instead for schools. The joint letter by the Montgomery County Education Association, SEIU Local 500 and the Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals to the council is reprinted below.
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April 24, 2024
Dear Councilmembers:
As the leaders of the three unions representing the staff of Montgomery County Public Schools, like you, we care deeply about the economic vitality of our county. The families we serve need access to good jobs with good pay and benefits, and we want our students to be able to afford to live and work here when they complete their education. Moreover, the county revenue that such prosperity brings can give us resources to meet the educational needs of our students.
However, we believe that investment of public dollars should be made first in public endeavors, not private enterprise. Trickle-down economic programs, such as the $20 million New (JOBS) Jobs, Opportunity, and Business Support Initiative, have not proven to help the neediest, but instead primarily further enrich those who already enjoy privilege and comfort. Providing $10,000 grants, for example, for employers to increase tech salaries that pay $100,000 or more does not help those in our community who are experiencing the greatest challenges.
Investing in public education puts the money directly where it has the greatest impact on those most in need: our children. Excellent public schools are the gateway to the middle class for those struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder, providing students with a path to college and career. Excellent public schools provide the workforce that draws businesses to our county. Excellent public schools attract families to settle here. They are often the primary means of bringing neighbors together. Our public schools are the heartbeat of our communities.
At a time when MCPS is facing the challenges of attracting and retaining qualified staff, lifting student achievement and meeting the growing need for special academic and other services, and facing a backlog in crucial capital improvements, these public dollars should be invested in restoring the school’s budget.
The Board of Education presented a budget request for FY25 that fails to address longstanding, critical needs in our schools, but that would allow the schools to tread water for another year. We call on you to restore the $55 million in cuts that the county executive made to the MCPS budget. We know that to do this you will be forced to use money from the general reserve.
While it is not good fiscal management to use one-time funding for ongoing needs, that has been past practice, including in this current year when tens of millions of dollars in federal Covid emergency relief funding have been used to pay for mental health and other necessary services in MCPS. Now these needs must be met by the operating budget.
We call on Council President Friedson, Vice President Stewart, and Councilmembers Albornoz, Balcombe, Jawando, Katz, Luedtke, Mink and Sayles to reconsider your intention to use the general reserve to fund the New JOBS Initiative. Instead, invest in our schools by fully funding the Board of Education’s budget request for FY25.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Martin, President, MCEA
Pia Morrison, President, SEIU Local 500
Christine Handy, President, MCAAP/MCBOA
