By Adam Pagnucco.
Part One described how I reached out to my source network to get their grades on MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s first year. Today, we will begin hearing directly from them on how they rate him.
Let’s begin with folks who are not fans of Taylor. Here are a few comments from people who gave Taylor a grade of C+ or below. Such criticism is part of the job, but don’t worry, TT – future parts of this series get better!
All comments begin with a grade. All remarks were provided confidentially. Here we go!
Grade D: I would give him a D, because he is spending so much taxpayer money, and the quality of education is going down, not up. I also hear from teachers that they are not happy with the work environment.
Grade: C-. Taylor receives good marks for calming the system and local leaders after the McKnight crisis. He has won the confidence of elected officials and is liked by the MCPS staff. I don’t believe, however, he has made great gains in confidence among the general community. His FY26 budget makes gains for special education children and their families, however, it should be noted that any informed superintendent would have known the Supreme Court would, as it unanimously did this spring in the Osseo BOE case, make it easier for families to sue and force local schools to provide better special ed services.
Taylor earned a D by proposing a budget that is unsustainable and without courage.
Taylor earned an F for fiscal planning for the future, especially in preparing the Board, MCPS staff and the community for the difficult fiscal times ahead.
Taylor earned a D in appreciation that local community service organizations are critical to meeting community and educational needs of at-risk student populations and their families. His FY 26 budget left very few resources for critical partners to receive adequate funds to effectively support at-risk families at home and in school.
Grade: C. Two things stand out. First, amid serious local, state, and national economic uncertainty, the superintendent proposed one of the largest budget increases in recent memory. While adequate funding is essential, the timing of this large request felt a bit tone-deaf. Second, some of the proposed boundary changes scenarios are wildly impractical and lack logic, thus causing unnecessary disruption and concern in the community. It’s hard to see how these are considered sound decisions, though perhaps that reflects the strange times we’re in.
Grade: C-. Dr. Taylor inherited a broken and dysfunctional MCPS. While it’s not fair to say that he alone should be capable of fixing everything that is wrong with MCPS, it’s also true that he has coasted on that good will of being the great white savior of the school system, after taking over the reins from Dr. McKnight, the system’s first Black, female superintendent, who was pushed out after the embarrassing Beidleman scandal made it to The Washington Post. McKnight’s disastrous tenure, which included a no-confidence vote from the teacher’s union during the pandemic, was followed by a costly payout for taxpayers and a similarly bumpy stint with Interim Superintendent Dr. Felder, which ended on a whimper as she quietly slipped out the backdoor once it became clear she was not getting the permanent superintendent gig.
Taylor’s entry plan promised “community engagement, transparency and trust.” We’ve gotten none of that. He’s added some new chiefs to his org chart, but many of the administrators that have served in the system under McKnight remain. He has not changed the organizational culture of MCPS, despite acknowledging that MCPS has a “customer service” problem. On his watch, promises and opportunities for transparency, engagement and collaboration around the Woodward and Crown Boundary Studies, safety and security, Student Code of Conduct updates, grading policy changes, school building failures and more have been missed or bungled badly.
Taylor has also failed to establish a genuine north star for the system. His so-called “money-back guarantee,” which promises to “reimburse families for the cost of remedial mathematics and literacy courses at Montgomery College for any MCPS graduate who requires additional support to succeed in higher education or the workforce,” sounds nice. But given that it won’t kick in until 2035, it’s highly unlikely he’ll be around to be held accountable for this promise if his plan fails since the average superintendent tenure is usually between 3-6 years.
The only pluses I can give him, which keep him at the C-level rather than the D-level, is that he presents well, and he did a good job of steering the budget process to success, which resulted in securing MCPS the biggest budget increase in the system’s history.
Grade: C-. High hopes at first, after the idiot before him. However, continuing with lawsuits that lost in Supreme Court and the other settlement, shows he does not wield power to control the Admin. It will subsume him. They were thrashed soundly and for excellent reason and defiant and tone deaf as ever. I don’t see financial discipline and common sense being brought to the fore. Much Improvement Needed.
Grade: C. I give him a C. The key thing he has brought is stability. The school system was moving in all sorts of directions, with too much time, effort and money devoted to things like a rogue principal. That principal situation was created by a major internal problem: A segment of MCPS leadership looking out for the members of its own clique. The friends got promotions. Those who criticized, even quietly, got punished. Everyone around was aware of the mechanics, and eventually, the whole clubhouse of rats was running the cafeteria. The former superintendent was queen of the rodent community–and then denied knowing anything. I am confident those things are better now and there is more focus on education. However, the superintendent submitted an irresponsible budget for FY 2026 to the County Council. A nine percent increase handicapped the County Executive and the County Council—and he is smart enough to know it. He was willing to steal from the other needs of the County to force the elected officials to go with his recommendations or be ostracized by inside critics and voters who care only about MCPS. He basically got his way and parts of the County that are not MCPS dependent will be suffering throughout the current budget year. He was not a team player for the whole County and MCPS must be a team player. He was irresponsible, and in giving him a grade, this part hurts his performance significantly. This is too inside for most residents, but all those who run local government are aware of what he did.
Grade: C+. (1) There have not been any major scandals in the MCPS system so far (at least so far as we know). That is a big step up from his predecessor; (2) At the same time, he has not been very visible or comprehensive about cleaning out the MCPS Augean stables (waiting to hear about the mass firings of people who do not pursue or transmit information about harassment and other complaints like they are supposed to); (3) the multiple boundary change proposals that are very confusing and not transparent, so as to, seemingly intentionally, make it hard for residents to comment (besides the fact that there is nothing in the proposal that recognizes or addresses that people buy homes, and pay taxes on them, based on expectations for school attendance); and (4) Still a lack of transparency about the budget and expenditures (why do they need $X zillion above MOE/where does it go/what is the allocation among people instructing in the classroom vs. staff to operate the schools vs. the administrators with job titles composed of three words or more).
But still, bottom line, I think he gives us hope. And he appears to listen. Predecessor certainly did not.
Grade: C. My grade for Dr. Taylor’s first year is a placeholder, as this year has not, so far as we know, ended with notably improved student outcomes. That is the job, after all. Dr. Taylor confronted many problems in MCPS, but that is the lot of other superintendents as well. The issues at MCPS are well-known to you. Some large challenges are of Taylor’s own making. Although Dr. Taylor has improved relations with the employee unions, he squandered his opening year opportunity to set the tone for leadership. School administrators who have been ineffective (based on available metrics) should have been replaced. As a percentage, not many have been at this writing. Having survived the year, poor performers might be excused for thinking that they’re safe. Central office administration is difficult for an outsider to judge. The new org chart contains unfamiliar titles. It will take time to assess the impact of the changes and to know if Dr. Taylor is an effective leader of this bureaucracy. It could be fairly asked if Dr. Taylor’s professional experience equipped him to take on the behemoth that is MCPS. On that score, the jury is out. The pressure will be on in this second year. He is to be commended for getting most of his budget request funded. Now the school system must deliver on its mission. None of us will know whether it has, however, unless the quality of data and analysis available to administrators, teachers, and the community improves. The direction for that vital improvement must come from Dr. Taylor. As is said, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. I think Dr. Taylor has a sense of what he wants to accomplish. It has seemed generally that it is his method to put forward a framework for policy change without much detail, which feels tentative. Detail comes later, by what process I don’t know. The response to problems comes through this opaque policy process. His public voice is soft. There are many moving parts to be mastered in a system as large as MCPS. I wish Dr. Taylor well as he works to improve opportunities for all our children.
Grade: C-. He’s a step up from the previous superintendents but he’s still in bed with the teachers union, who are the actual ones running the show. He’s at least honest in the assessment that test scores are failing, there is no behavioral accountability in classrooms, and MCPS is in decline, but I don’t yet see any meaningful steps toward change. The fact is that the school budget growth has vastly outpaced inflation AND enrollment. I don’t see any compromise on his part to reign in spending either. The MCPS budget is simply not sustainable.
I’ll give him a C- at best, if only because he’s honest about the decline when you talk with him. But I don’t yet see him bringing a path forward to sustainability or accountability.
Next: We will hear more positive evaluations of Taylor.