Increased class sizes for next year

[Anonymous]

The chance of a supplemental county appropriation is next to zero. The county and state both have budget shortfalls. Are they going to lay off police or fire? Close parks? The school is by far by far by far the biggest budget cost and there’s no place to make that up.
A more realistic option is the McPS is forced to cut outside consultants and cut central office to the bone. They won’t do that, but that’s at least somewhat realistic as a possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The chance of a supplemental county appropriation is next to zero. The county and state both have budget shortfalls. Are they going to lay off police or fire? Close parks? The school is by far by far by far the biggest budget cost and there’s no place to make that up.
A more realistic option is the McPS is forced to cut outside consultants and cut central office to the bone. They won’t do that, but that’s at least somewhat realistic as a possibility.

Central office in particular is bloated. They definitely could cut more positions.

[Anonymous]

"Although there will be a class size guidance increase of no more than one student per class at each level (elementary, middle and high), there will not be an increase in every classroom. These decisions are based on the enrollment and specific programmatic needs at individual schools."

https://mocoshow.com/2024/06/10/teacher-staffing-update-shows-open-positions-to-cover-impact-of-class-size-increase-a-message-from-montgomery-county-public-schools/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The chance of a supplemental county appropriation is next to zero. The county and state both have budget shortfalls. Are they going to lay off police or fire? Close parks? The school is by far by far by far the biggest budget cost and there’s no place to make that up.
A more realistic option is the McPS is forced to cut outside consultants and cut central office to the bone. They won’t do that, but that’s at least somewhat realistic as a possibility.

Central office in particular is bloated. They definitely could cut more positions.

"This change, as well as the loss of 20 positions in the central services and the cutting or delaying of programs, will undoubtedly have an impact. In central services alone, when combining the superintendent’s proposed budget reductions from December of 2024 and including the most recent position reductions, the total reduction in central services is nearly 95 positions, a total of nearly $18 million."

[Anonymous]

The increase in class size sucks. Try doing science labs when you have 34 kids jammed into one classroom

[Anonymous]

Council has more than enough in reserves to make a special appropriation to MCPS for $10million. They just authorized a $20mill special appropriation for corporate welfare.

“Look at that big spike in FY23-24. Ending reserves are estimated to be $960 million at the end of FY24. The county’s reserve target is 10% of revenues, but in FY24, reserves are supposed to be 14.9% of revenues – and 16.1% if all agencies are included. And here is the kicker – that is despite the county spending a net $74 million out of reserves, the biggest withdrawal in nearly a decade. The approved FY25 budget assumes a net $253 million decline in reserves, an astronomical amount that exceeds what the county withdrew during the Great Recession.“

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2024/06/10/is-the-party-over/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Council has more than enough in reserves to make a special appropriation to MCPS for $10million. They just authorized a $20mill special appropriation for corporate welfare.

“Look at that big spike in FY23-24. Ending reserves are estimated to be $960 million at the end of FY24. The county’s reserve target is 10% of revenues, but in FY24, reserves are supposed to be 14.9% of revenues – and 16.1% if all agencies are included. And here is the kicker – that is despite the county spending a net $74 million out of reserves, the biggest withdrawal in nearly a decade. The approved FY25 budget assumes a net $253 million decline in reserves, an astronomical amount that exceeds what the county withdrew during the Great Recession.“

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2024/06/10/is-the-party-over/

The problem is that the schools are actually relatively well-funded. Montgomery County has a lot of affluent residents who prioritize education. It’s not that MCPS can’t maintain current class sizes, it’s that they can’t maintain current class sizes AND do everything else they want. They make the cuts in teacher staffing because they know it will create community pressure to raise the budget and/or supplement it. If they had kept the current teacher ratios but cut some of the admininistrative bloat and/or special pet projects instead, I don’t think there’d be this huge outcry that the county needed to provide more funding.

MCPS can and will always find more ways to spend money. Short of writing it a blank check, I think it will always feel that the county allocations are insufficient. Luckily, it knows exactly what lever to use to pry open the purse strings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Council has more than enough in reserves to make a special appropriation to MCPS for $10million. They just authorized a $20mill special appropriation for corporate welfare.

“Look at that big spike in FY23-24. Ending reserves are estimated to be $960 million at the end of FY24. The county’s reserve target is 10% of revenues, but in FY24, reserves are supposed to be 14.9% of revenues – and 16.1% if all agencies are included. And here is the kicker – that is despite the county spending a net $74 million out of reserves, the biggest withdrawal in nearly a decade. The approved FY25 budget assumes a net $253 million decline in reserves, an astronomical amount that exceeds what the county withdrew during the Great Recession.“

https://montgomeryperspective.com/2024/06/10/is-the-party-over/

The problem is that the schools are actually relatively well-funded. Montgomery County has a lot of affluent residents who prioritize education. It’s not that MCPS can’t maintain current class sizes, it’s that they can’t maintain current class sizes AND do everything else they want. They make the cuts in teacher staffing because they know it will create community pressure to raise the budget and/or supplement it. If they had kept the current teacher ratios but cut some of the admininistrative bloat and/or special pet projects instead, I don’t think there’d be this huge outcry that the county needed to provide more funding.

MCPS can and will always find more ways to spend money. Short of writing it a blank check, I think it will always feel that the county allocations are insufficient. Luckily, it knows exactly what lever to use to pry open the purse strings.

Funding is significantly less on a per-pupil basis than in 2000. I'm not sure where you got the idea that it is well-funded.

[Anonymous]

Annoyed that my son’s 3rd grade class has 29 this year and now we’re increasing class sizes. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Class size seems to be ignored already. We have 35 kids in a 6th grade history class at Pyle, and 32 in English. Science is at least 32 too…. This was this year! And the school seemed unfazed. I don’t even know how they will be able to retain teachers.

[Anonymous]

And yet somehow in elementary school they were offering free Zoom tutoring, because that doesn’t work….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class size seems to be ignored already. We have 35 kids in a 6th grade history class at Pyle, and 32 in English. Science is at least 32 too…. This was this year! And the school seemed unfazed. I don’t even know how they will be able to retain teachers.

34 and 35 in my two largest science classes this year. Chromebook carts only go to 35. This is ridiculous

[Anonymous]

I cannot wait to be done with MCPS. College classes are smaller than MCPS classes. Or if it’s a huge lecture, there are discussion/lab sections that are much smaller. I really think my kid is going to go the DE route instead of staying in the larger classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’re officially only adding one student per class so doesn’t sound like a lot.
My neighbor teaches 8th grade Spanish though and says she already got 36 kids in one of her classes. That’s easily 10 kids to many imo.

My kids had 33 kids in their kindergarten classes. 3 years apart so not an outlier. 4th grader had 36 kids in math this year.

Last year we were at 39 in my kid's math class in ES. Teacher and students struggled alike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’re officially only adding one student per class so doesn’t sound like a lot.
My neighbor teaches 8th grade Spanish though and says she already got 36 kids in one of her classes. That’s easily 10 kids to many imo.

My kids had 33 kids in their kindergarten classes. 3 years apart so not an outlier. 4th grader had 36 kids in math this year.

Last year we were at 39 in my kid's math class in ES. Teacher and students struggled alike.

Was it compacted math?