By Adam Pagnucco.
MCPS is getting ready to implement draconian personnel measures, possibly including layoffs or furloughs. Such actions would harm morale, recruitment and retention in the school system and damage Montgomery County’s reputation. There must be a way out.
And there is. In Part One, I laid out four big problems in fixing this mess. Here are a few ideas on solutions.
Problem One: MCPS has a short term issue in its budget.
Solution: The council could introduce a special appropriation as a temporary fix, but it should be accompanied by other measures.
MCPS received $31 million less than it requested from the county council, which spawned its current budget difficulties. There is nothing unusual about its receiving less than its request, but for whatever reason, the system is struggling to deal with it this year. The amount needed to prevent layoffs or furloughs is less than $31 million. I bet it’s closer to a quarter or a third of that. The county’s recently passed FY25 budget provides for a 10.8% reserve level, above the 10% target, so if the money in question is what I think it is, it won’t blow a hole in our reserves.
However, this should not be free money as I have other suggestions to accompany it. And what about the state’s maintenance of effort law, which would – under normal circumstances – permanently place this into MCPS’s budget base? Keep reading.
Problem Two: The county council does not trust MCPS’s budget numbers.
Solution: The council should have its Office of Legislative Oversight audit MCPS.
Council complaints about MCPS’s budget transparency have become more plentiful than grass in a field. Well, the council should do more than complain – it should send in its think tank, the Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO). OLO did invaluable work on fiscal issues during and after the Great Recession, including analyses of structural budget issues, MCPS benefit costs and maintenance of effort. Whether it wants to or not, it’s a logical candidate to look at MCPS’s budget.
Here is a question. MCPS’s FY25 approved budget is $31 million short of its request. However, in FY21 it was $49 million short, in FY23 it was $42 million short and in FY24, it was $51 million short. MCPS did not resort to layoffs or furloughs in any of those other years, so why now? OLO should find out.
Another question. Every year, MCPS experiences teacher turnover, with new hires replacing departed employees. How much money can be saved by adjusting the pace of new hires? Also, what are the class size implications of that strategy? OLO should examine that too.
More broadly speaking, OLO should identify the cost drivers in MCPS’s budget, calculate whether the county’s existing revenue growth can afford them and present options if they don’t pencil out. And it should do all of this before the next superintendent’s budget is recommended next winter.
I can just hear the OLO analysts howling about this, but I know they’re up to the task. In fact, they have to be, because while the council does not trust MCPS, it does believe OLO. The council will take its findings seriously.
Problem Three: The state’s maintenance of effort law prevents flexibility in helping MCPS.
Solution 1: The law provides a way out through agreement with the school board.
Solution 2: The county’s delegation of state legislators can help with local legislation if necessary.
In general, the state’s maintenance of effort (MOE) law holds that a county’s local per pupil contribution to schools is the floor for future years. That floor may increase, thereby raising the base, but a county may go below it only by receiving a waiver from the State Board of Education. This has the detrimental effect of preventing short term adjustments which are often used for other parts of county government.
However, the MOE law includes this language in MD. Education Code § 5-235 (2023):
(i)(1) This subsection applies to a county that requests a waiver under subsection (h)(1)(ii) of this section.
(2)(i) The State Board shall grant a waiver request in the amount that has been agreed on by the county and county board that is attributable to reductions in recurring costs.
(ii) If the reduction in recurring costs includes reductions in personnel or personnel costs, then the State Board shall grant a waiver request in the amount that has been mutually agreed on by the county, county board, and exclusive employee representative.
(3) The amount of the agreed on waiver may be less than the entire amount of the reduction in recurring costs.
(4) The amount of the agreed on waiver may not:
(i) Exceed the entire amount of the reduction in recurring costs; or
(ii) Reduce a county’s education appropriation below the amount required in subsection (a)(1) of this section.
This language provides a path to a deal involving the county, the school board and possibly the unions on any special appropriation. The school system would receive enough money to prevent layoffs or furloughs. In return, the school board and the unions (if required under the law) must support a potential MOE waiver excluding that amount from the base. This may be judged unnecessary in the future, but it’s a reasonable deal for all sides to execute right now.
If that does not work, the state delegation could introduce a local bill excluding the special appropriation from the MOE base. That’s within the delegation’s power as it excused the county from a state MOE penalty through a local bill in 2010.
Problem Four: MCPS has a terrible labor-management relationship.
Solution: The unions should receive ex officio, non-voting seats on the school board.
One of the biggest and most problematic changes I have seen at MCPS over the years has been its disastrous deterioration in labor-management relations. That was a strength under former Superintendent Jerry Weast (1999-2011). Since his departure, the relationship has declined until it reached a poisonous nadir under deposed Superintendent Monifa McKnight. That’s a huge impediment to collaboration, innovation and building a positive work environment for employees. For the good of the order, reasonable labor-management relations must be restored.
One of the biggest complaints from labor, especially MCEA, is the lack of transparency by the school system. That can be remedied by giving the three unions – MCEA, SEIU Local 500 and MCAAP (the supervisors) – ex officio, non-voting seats on the school board. Those seats should be excluded from any role on compensation, working conditions, collective bargaining and personnel appointments because of the potential for obvious conflicts. But otherwise, the holders of those seats should be entitled to receive the same information as any other school board members. This arrangement would help institutionalize the kind of collaboration practiced by Weast which has now been sadly missing for years.
Imagine how management would behave if it knew that it had to share information with labor. And imagine how labor would behave if it no longer had to fight to find out what was going on. I bet this would have a taming effect on both sides.
Yes, this would be unusual in Maryland, where students sit on school boards but not employee organizations. But it’s common for companies in Europe to allocate board seats to employee representatives. And when I worked in the labor movement, my general president held a board seat with one of our largest union contractors. Why not pass a state law establishing this in Montgomery County on a pilot basis and see how it works? It’s far preferable to the sight of MCPS employees banging on hearing room doors with bullhorns to get in.
I get that this package is a heavy lift and there are elements in it that will displease everyone.
I get that it would take unusual courage, skill and vision to pull it off.
And I understand the risks.
But think of the alternative. If our present trajectory continues, we could have finger pointing, budget headaches, distrust, employee dislocations and – ultimately – decline in the schools for years on end. And what would that look like during the next recession, when the county no longer enjoys big reserves and easy revenue growth? What then?
Whether it’s through these ideas or others, the problems at MCPS and in county government can be fixed. Let’s get to work.