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

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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.[/quote]

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.
[/quote]

That's my point. When you look back over the past 100 years, you'll see a clear trend in education going up faster than inflation. Unless you want more and more screen time, the nature of education means it needs to. The main cost is labor, labor costs go up faster than inflation, and you don't want ratios to explode.

That changed in 2010, where we saw funding drop, only recently starting to catch back up. But now we're 15 years behind where we need to be. You can't blame that on the recession, because it kept going after the recession.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics