Taylor's Operating Budget releases 12/17 at 6:30 pm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor wants an increase. Where is this money going? How about transparency!

Have you even bothered to look at the details? Almost all
of the increase simply goes to pay and benefits.

That's just part of the money, what about the rest of the money. MCPS has a huge budget and it should be in this kind of mess.

It's 80% of the increase.

Yes, the detailed budget breakdown is important, and presumably they'll release more information publicly as they've done in previous years, but this is a strange thing to get hung up on right now. The idea of a small increase nominally for costs beyond salaries should not be surprising or immediately viewed with suspicion. Inflation drives costs up each year- flat spending is really a cut.

They need to manage the money better. Most of us aren't getting pay raises and many are out of work, which impacts the county revenue and they are tone-deaf not to realize how many families are struggling right now.

Tightening the belt, so to speak, during economic downturns might be acceptable if it wasn't also done during economic booms. We've had 15 years of slow cuts to schools because old people never want to see their taxes go up to help kids.

NO!

FY 2023, the budget was about $2.92 billion. This rose to $3.165 billion in FY 2024. For FY 2025, the budget increased again to roughly $3.32 billion. The proposed MCPS operating budget for FY 2026 is approximately $3.6 billion, with declining enrollment.

Are you familiar with the concept of inflation?

Also, the real problem is that this is part of a long-trend. People have complained about MCPS going downhill for the last 20 years, willfully ignorant of the fact that they've been cutting MCPS funding over that period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor wants an increase. Where is this money going? How about transparency!

Have you even bothered to look at the details? Almost all
of the increase simply goes to pay and benefits.

That's just part of the money, what about the rest of the money. MCPS has a huge budget and it should be in this kind of mess.

It's 80% of the increase.

Yes, the detailed budget breakdown is important, and presumably they'll release more information publicly as they've done in previous years, but this is a strange thing to get hung up on right now. The idea of a small increase nominally for costs beyond salaries should not be surprising or immediately viewed with suspicion. Inflation drives costs up each year- flat spending is really a cut.

They need to manage the money better. Most of us aren't getting pay raises and many are out of work, which impacts the county revenue and they are tone-deaf not to realize how many families are struggling right now.

Tightening the belt, so to speak, during economic downturns might be acceptable if it wasn't also done during economic booms. We've had 15 years of slow cuts to schools because old people never want to see their taxes go up to help kids.

NO!

FY 2023, the budget was about $2.92 billion. This rose to $3.165 billion in FY 2024. For FY 2025, the budget increased again to roughly $3.32 billion. The proposed MCPS operating budget for FY 2026 is approximately $3.6 billion, with declining enrollment.

Are you familiar with the concept of inflation?

Also, the real problem is that this is part of a long-trend. People have complained about MCPS going downhill for the last 20 years, willfully ignorant of the fact that they've been cutting MCPS funding over that period.

THEY HAVE NOT BEEN CUTTING FUNDING. And, if they were transpaent, you could see the waste, cut that out and they would have plenty. MCPS is one of the highest funded schools systems. There is no excuse for the mismanagement. They don't need more money, they need competent leadership who puts students and staff first over their self interests.

Many of us have faced job loss, reduction in salaries with new jobs, etc. That's life. And, yet we manage to make it work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor wants an increase. Where is this money going? How about transparency!

Have you even bothered to look at the details? Almost all
of the increase simply goes to pay and benefits.

That's just part of the money, what about the rest of the money. MCPS has a huge budget and it should be in this kind of mess.

It's 80% of the increase.

Yes, the detailed budget breakdown is important, and presumably they'll release more information publicly as they've done in previous years, but this is a strange thing to get hung up on right now. The idea of a small increase nominally for costs beyond salaries should not be surprising or immediately viewed with suspicion. Inflation drives costs up each year- flat spending is really a cut.

They need to manage the money better. Most of us aren't getting pay raises and many are out of work, which impacts the county revenue and they are tone-deaf not to realize how many families are struggling right now.

Tightening the belt, so to speak, during economic downturns might be acceptable if it wasn't also done during economic booms. We've had 15 years of slow cuts to schools because old people never want to see their taxes go up to help kids.

NO!

FY 2023, the budget was about $2.92 billion. This rose to $3.165 billion in FY 2024. For FY 2025, the budget increased again to roughly $3.32 billion. The proposed MCPS operating budget for FY 2026 is approximately $3.6 billion, with declining enrollment.

Are you familiar with the concept of inflation?

Also, the real problem is that this is part of a long-trend. People have complained about MCPS going downhill for the last 20 years, willfully ignorant of the fact that they've been cutting MCPS funding over that period.

THEY HAVE NOT BEEN CUTTING FUNDING. And, if they were transpaent, you could see the waste, cut that out and they would have plenty. MCPS is one of the highest funded schools systems. There is no excuse for the mismanagement. They don't need more money, they need competent leadership who puts students and staff first over their self interests.

Many of us have faced job loss, reduction in salaries with new jobs, etc. That's life. And, yet we manage to make it work.

Yes, they have. Per pupil funding has fallen over the last 15 years. The extent is even worse than a naive analysis of inflation would suggest because labor costs have gone up significantly faster than general inflation (society-wide, not just MCPS). Other sectors can offset those increased costs with productivity improvements tied to technology, but that doesn't apply to education. Computers and automation don't mean we can hire fewer teachers.

Last year's budget started to change that, but now we're faced with a backlog of problems from 15 years of underfunding.

[Anonymous]

Also, what is really infuriating is that past generations understood the importance of education and accepted that the nature of education inherently means costs will go up *faster* than general inflation. That's reflected in the long-term trends in education funding over the last century.

This isn't a new issue. We just now have taxpayers who are unwilling to give the next generation the same benefits they received. Right around 2010 was when this shifted dramatically.

It's not just the immediate impacts to kids that we should be worried about. Education has facilitated the growth in science and technology that drives our economy. We're digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole because some boomers don't like taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor wants an increase. Where is this money going? How about transparency!

Have you even bothered to look at the details? Almost all
of the increase simply goes to pay and benefits.

That's just part of the money, what about the rest of the money. MCPS has a huge budget and it should be in this kind of mess.

It's 80% of the increase.

Yes, the detailed budget breakdown is important, and presumably they'll release more information publicly as they've done in previous years, but this is a strange thing to get hung up on right now. The idea of a small increase nominally for costs beyond salaries should not be surprising or immediately viewed with suspicion. Inflation drives costs up each year- flat spending is really a cut.

They need to manage the money better. Most of us aren't getting pay raises and many are out of work, which impacts the county revenue and they are tone-deaf not to realize how many families are struggling right now.

Tightening the belt, so to speak, during economic downturns might be acceptable if it wasn't also done during economic booms. We've had 15 years of slow cuts to schools because old people never want to see their taxes go up to help kids.

NO!

FY 2023, the budget was about $2.92 billion. This rose to $3.165 billion in FY 2024. For FY 2025, the budget increased again to roughly $3.32 billion. The proposed MCPS operating budget for FY 2026 is approximately $3.6 billion, with declining enrollment.

Are you familiar with the concept of inflation?

Also, the real problem is that this is part of a long-trend. People have complained about MCPS going downhill for the last 20 years, willfully ignorant of the fact that they've been cutting MCPS funding over that period.

THEY HAVE NOT BEEN CUTTING FUNDING. And, if they were transpaent, you could see the waste, cut that out and they would have plenty. MCPS is one of the highest funded schools systems. There is no excuse for the mismanagement. They don't need more money, they need competent leadership who puts students and staff first over their self interests.

Many of us have faced job loss, reduction in salaries with new jobs, etc. That's life. And, yet we manage to make it work.

Yes, they have. Per pupil funding has fallen over the last 15 years. The extent is even worse than a naive analysis of inflation would suggest because labor costs have gone up significantly faster than general inflation (society-wide, not just MCPS). Other sectors can offset those increased costs with productivity improvements tied to technology, but that doesn't apply to education. Computers and automation don't mean we can hire fewer teachers.

Last year's budget started to change that, but now we're faced with a backlog of problems from 15 years of underfunding.

I'm not saying what you said is not true, but the poster you replied to also has a valid stand point. MCPS didn't pass the P-card audit. A random sampling of 25 transactions out of a 1.2 million transactions in a year yield a $1 million unclear spending (e.g., over $50K payment to Bowie State University that didn't get pre-approval from BOE), so you could easily scale it up and imagine how much money has been spent in a way that doesn't add a penny to MCPS teacher's salary or student's benefit.

[Anonymous]

^^ Unless those taxes are paying for their health care or social security payments, that is. They like those taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, what is really infuriating is that past generations understood the importance of education and accepted that the nature of education inherently means costs will go up *faster* than general inflation. That's reflected in the long-term trends in education funding over the last century.

This isn't a new issue. We just now have taxpayers who are unwilling to give the next generation the same benefits they received. Right around 2010 was when this shifted dramatically.

It's not just the immediate impacts to kids that we should be worried about. Education has facilitated the growth in science and technology that drives our economy. We're digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole because some boomers don't like taxes.

Many millennial parents are also uninterested in raising taxes for a school system that requires kids to be on addictive internet-connected screens most of the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor wants an increase. Where is this money going? How about transparency!

Have you even bothered to look at the details? Almost all
of the increase simply goes to pay and benefits.

That's just part of the money, what about the rest of the money. MCPS has a huge budget and it should be in this kind of mess.

It's 80% of the increase.

Yes, the detailed budget breakdown is important, and presumably they'll release more information publicly as they've done in previous years, but this is a strange thing to get hung up on right now. The idea of a small increase nominally for costs beyond salaries should not be surprising or immediately viewed with suspicion. Inflation drives costs up each year- flat spending is really a cut.

They need to manage the money better. Most of us aren't getting pay raises and many are out of work, which impacts the county revenue and they are tone-deaf not to realize how many families are struggling right now.

Tightening the belt, so to speak, during economic downturns might be acceptable if it wasn't also done during economic booms. We've had 15 years of slow cuts to schools because old people never want to see their taxes go up to help kids.

NO!

FY 2023, the budget was about $2.92 billion. This rose to $3.165 billion in FY 2024. For FY 2025, the budget increased again to roughly $3.32 billion. The proposed MCPS operating budget for FY 2026 is approximately $3.6 billion, with declining enrollment.

Are you familiar with the concept of inflation?

Also, the real problem is that this is part of a long-trend. People have complained about MCPS going downhill for the last 20 years, willfully ignorant of the fact that they've been cutting MCPS funding over that period.

THEY HAVE NOT BEEN CUTTING FUNDING. And, if they were transpaent, you could see the waste, cut that out and they would have plenty. MCPS is one of the highest funded schools systems. There is no excuse for the mismanagement. They don't need more money, they need competent leadership who puts students and staff first over their self interests.

Many of us have faced job loss, reduction in salaries with new jobs, etc. That's life. And, yet we manage to make it work.

Yes, they have. Per pupil funding has fallen over the last 15 years. The extent is even worse than a naive analysis of inflation would suggest because labor costs have gone up significantly faster than general inflation (society-wide, not just MCPS). Other sectors can offset those increased costs with productivity improvements tied to technology, but that doesn't apply to education. Computers and automation don't mean we can hire fewer teachers.

Last year's budget started to change that, but now we're faced with a backlog of problems from 15 years of underfunding.

I'm not saying what you said is not true, but the poster you replied to also has a valid stand point. MCPS didn't pass the P-card audit. A random sampling of 25 transactions out of a 1.2 million transactions in a year yield a $1 million unclear spending (e.g., over $50K payment to Bowie State University that didn't get pre-approval from BOE), so you could easily scale it up and imagine how much money has been spent in a way that doesn't add a penny to MCPS teacher's salary or student's benefit.

You can. And cutting waste, fraud and, and abuse is important, too. But we shouldn't cut off our nose to spite our face. The immediate complaints here regarding the proposed budget are ridiculous when you can see the vast majority of the increased funding is going to staff costs, which we should all understand are going up.

Also, keep in mind something isn't waste, fraud, and abuse simply because you don't like it. Whether you're talking about government programs, corporations, or households, not everyone is always going to agree on where money should be directed. In any sufficiently large organization with a large number of stakeholders, there will always be people who don't agree with individual expenses. And there will even always be things where a majority of stakeholders don't like an individual expense. We need to spend money judiciously, but service to that objective, we also shouldn't fail to see the forest for the trees. Similarly, proper administrative procedures are important for oversight and accountability, and failure to follow those procedures doesn't necessarily make the spending wasteful.

These are both important issues: 1) addressing the current and long-term resource needs for students, and 2) appropriately managing spending. But don't lose sight of the fact that 2) is ultimately in service to the main goal in 1).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what is really infuriating is that past generations understood the importance of education and accepted that the nature of education inherently means costs will go up *faster* than general inflation. That's reflected in the long-term trends in education funding over the last century.

This isn't a new issue. We just now have taxpayers who are unwilling to give the next generation the same benefits they received. Right around 2010 was when this shifted dramatically.

It's not just the immediate impacts to kids that we should be worried about. Education has facilitated the growth in science and technology that drives our economy. We're digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole because some boomers don't like taxes.

Many millennial parents are also uninterested in raising taxes for a school system that requires kids to be on addictive internet-connected screens most of the day.

Right! Even more reason that we need to accept that technology isn't going to provide the productivity increases that other sectors benefit from. This is why education funding inherently needs to increase faster than inflation. We've been setting schools up for failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what is really infuriating is that past generations understood the importance of education and accepted that the nature of education inherently means costs will go up *faster* than general inflation. That's reflected in the long-term trends in education funding over the last century.

This isn't a new issue. We just now have taxpayers who are unwilling to give the next generation the same benefits they received. Right around 2010 was when this shifted dramatically.

It's not just the immediate impacts to kids that we should be worried about. Education has facilitated the growth in science and technology that drives our economy. We're digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole because some boomers don't like taxes.

Many millennial parents are also uninterested in raising taxes for a school system that requires kids to be on addictive internet-connected screens most of the day.

Right! Even more reason that we need to accept that technology isn't going to provide the productivity increases that other sectors benefit from. This is why education funding inherently needs to increase faster than inflation. We've been setting schools up for failure.

I'll believe schools will reduce screen time when I see it. The edtech grift is real and is not the result of not enough funding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taylor wants an increase. Where is this money going? How about transparency!

Have you even bothered to look at the details? Almost all
of the increase simply goes to pay and benefits.

That's just part of the money, what about the rest of the money. MCPS has a huge budget and it should be in this kind of mess.

It's 80% of the increase.

Yes, the detailed budget breakdown is important, and presumably they'll release more information publicly as they've done in previous years, but this is a strange thing to get hung up on right now. The idea of a small increase nominally for costs beyond salaries should not be surprising or immediately viewed with suspicion. Inflation drives costs up each year- flat spending is really a cut.

They need to manage the money better. Most of us aren't getting pay raises and many are out of work, which impacts the county revenue and they are tone-deaf not to realize how many families are struggling right now.

Tightening the belt, so to speak, during economic downturns might be acceptable if it wasn't also done during economic booms. We've had 15 years of slow cuts to schools because old people never want to see their taxes go up to help kids.

NO!

FY 2023, the budget was about $2.92 billion. This rose to $3.165 billion in FY 2024. For FY 2025, the budget increased again to roughly $3.32 billion. The proposed MCPS operating budget for FY 2026 is approximately $3.6 billion, with declining enrollment.

Are you familiar with the concept of inflation?

Also, the real problem is that this is part of a long-trend. People have complained about MCPS going downhill for the last 20 years, willfully ignorant of the fact that they've been cutting MCPS funding over that period.

THEY HAVE NOT BEEN CUTTING FUNDING. And, if they were transpaent, you could see the waste, cut that out and they would have plenty. MCPS is one of the highest funded schools systems. There is no excuse for the mismanagement. They don't need more money, they need competent leadership who puts students and staff first over their self interests.

Many of us have faced job loss, reduction in salaries with new jobs, etc. That's life. And, yet we manage to make it work.

Yes, they have. Per pupil funding has fallen over the last 15 years. The extent is even worse than a naive analysis of inflation would suggest because labor costs have gone up significantly faster than general inflation (society-wide, not just MCPS). Other sectors can offset those increased costs with productivity improvements tied to technology, but that doesn't apply to education. Computers and automation don't mean we can hire fewer teachers.

Last year's budget started to change that, but now we're faced with a backlog of problems from 15 years of underfunding.

I'm not saying what you said is not true, but the poster you replied to also has a valid stand point. MCPS didn't pass the P-card audit. A random sampling of 25 transactions out of a 1.2 million transactions in a year yield a $1 million unclear spending (e.g., over $50K payment to Bowie State University that didn't get pre-approval from BOE), so you could easily scale it up and imagine how much money has been spent in a way that doesn't add a penny to MCPS teacher's salary or student's benefit.

MCPS spending keeps going up every year, with less students. Its mismanagement. Don't they spend $500K on 4Imprint (which is a great company) for logo items for central office?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what is really infuriating is that past generations understood the importance of education and accepted that the nature of education inherently means costs will go up *faster* than general inflation. That's reflected in the long-term trends in education funding over the last century.

This isn't a new issue. We just now have taxpayers who are unwilling to give the next generation the same benefits they received. Right around 2010 was when this shifted dramatically.

It's not just the immediate impacts to kids that we should be worried about. Education has facilitated the growth in science and technology that drives our economy. We're digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole because some boomers don't like taxes.

Many millennial parents are also uninterested in raising taxes for a school system that requires kids to be on addictive internet-connected screens most of the day.

We pay federal, state, local income tax, plus property tax, PLUS taxes on all the goods, services, etc. that we buy. We pay plenty in taxes. The issue is mismanagement and lack of transparency and accountability, two things the BOE and Taylor promised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what is really infuriating is that past generations understood the importance of education and accepted that the nature of education inherently means costs will go up *faster* than general inflation. That's reflected in the long-term trends in education funding over the last century.

This isn't a new issue. We just now have taxpayers who are unwilling to give the next generation the same benefits they received. Right around 2010 was when this shifted dramatically.

It's not just the immediate impacts to kids that we should be worried about. Education has facilitated the growth in science and technology that drives our economy. We're digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole because some boomers don't like taxes.

Many millennial parents are also uninterested in raising taxes for a school system that requires kids to be on addictive internet-connected screens most of the day.

Right! Even more reason that we need to accept that technology isn't going to provide the productivity increases that other sectors benefit from. This is why education funding inherently needs to increase faster than inflation. We've been setting schools up for failure.

I'll believe schools will reduce screen time when I see it. The edtech grift is real and is not the result of not enough funding.

In HS, many teachers have textbooks and they refuse to use them. Part of it is on the teachers and school admin. We have teachers send home books or if asked say they have them and don't use them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, what is really infuriating is that past generations understood the importance of education and accepted that the nature of education inherently means costs will go up *faster* than general inflation. That's reflected in the long-term trends in education funding over the last century.

This isn't a new issue. We just now have taxpayers who are unwilling to give the next generation the same benefits they received. Right around 2010 was when this shifted dramatically.

It's not just the immediate impacts to kids that we should be worried about. Education has facilitated the growth in science and technology that drives our economy. We're digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole because some boomers don't like taxes.

I'm looking at per pupil spending numbers (https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OMB/Resources/Files/omb/pdfs/FY26/psprec/10-MontgomeryCountyPublicSchools-FY2026-REC-Publication-Report.pdf) and adjusting them for inflation. They don't support your assertions.'

Using the numbers in the linked document and the BLS CPI calculator, this is what I found for inflation adjusted per pupil funding amounts in November 2025 dollars:

1984-1985: $13,398
1989-1990: $16,305
1994-1995: $15,287
1999-2000: $16,244
2004-2005: $19,630
2009-2010: $23,427
2014-2015: $20,522
2019-2020: $20,477
2024-2025: $21,058
2025-2026: $22,644

The current year per pupil funding is 69% higher than 1985 per pupil funding in November 2025 dollars, and 39% higher than per pupil funding in 2000 in November 2025 dollars. Then in the 2000s Doug Duncan went on a massive spending spree, which surprise surprise was not sustainable. Per pupil funding was at a high in 2010, but with the recession, we couldn't keep that up. We are approaching another recession. It is not going to be pretty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what is really infuriating is that past generations understood the importance of education and accepted that the nature of education inherently means costs will go up *faster* than general inflation. That's reflected in the long-term trends in education funding over the last century.

This isn't a new issue. We just now have taxpayers who are unwilling to give the next generation the same benefits they received. Right around 2010 was when this shifted dramatically.

It's not just the immediate impacts to kids that we should be worried about. Education has facilitated the growth in science and technology that drives our economy. We're digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole because some boomers don't like taxes.

I'm looking at per pupil spending numbers (https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OMB/Resources/Files/omb/pdfs/FY26/psprec/10-MontgomeryCountyPublicSchools-FY2026-REC-Publication-Report.pdf) and adjusting them for inflation. They don't support your assertions.'

Using the numbers in the linked document and the BLS CPI calculator, this is what I found for inflation adjusted per pupil funding amounts in November 2025 dollars:

1984-1985: $13,398
1989-1990: $16,305
1994-1995: $15,287
1999-2000: $16,244
2004-2005: $19,630
2009-2010: $23,427
2014-2015: $20,522
2019-2020: $20,477
2024-2025: $21,058
2025-2026: $22,644

The current year per pupil funding is 69% higher than 1985 per pupil funding in November 2025 dollars, and 39% higher than per pupil funding in 2000 in November 2025 dollars. Then in the 2000s Doug Duncan went on a massive spending spree, which surprise surprise was not sustainable. Per pupil funding was at a high in 2010, but with the recession, we couldn't keep that up. We are approaching another recession. It is not going to be pretty.

DP but are you looking at the total funding numbers or the county funding numbers? There's a whole bunch of reasons why federal and state funding fluctuate, but the discussion is about county-level spending on education and whether or not it has declined, correct?