Montgomery County Superintendent proposes $3.8B budget

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — The superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools is proposing a $3.8 billion operating budget for next fiscal year.

The proposed budget, a 5% increase over the current fiscal year, includes $139.7 million in salaries and benefits, $34.9 million to implement "robust staffing allocation standards" and reduce elementary class sizes, and $6.3 million for curriculum, instruction and professional learning in math, literacy, early childhood and Pre-K, according to the school district...

https://wjla.com/news/local/mcps-superintendent-proposes-37b-budget-for-fy27-salaries-staffing-reduce-elementary-class-sizes-curriculum-instruction-board-of-education-thomas-taylor-mcps

Superintendent Taylor's letter to the community Oct. 15, 2025: Dear Sligo Creek Elementary School Community

 We understand that Superintendent Taylor sent this letter out this evening (Wednesday, October 15, 2025).

Dear Sligo Creek Elementary School Community,

You have likely heard by now the news about our facilities plan, which includes an historic investment in Silver Spring schools and the Silver Spring community.  An important part of this investment is the eventual move of Sligo Creek Elementary School to a new building on a new site, and the repurposing of Silver Spring International Middle School.  

Any time there is a change of this magnitude, there are bound to be a lot of emotions. I know how important both Sligo Creek Elementary and SSIMS are to you and our community and I want to share some of the thinking behind this recommendation and offer some opportunities for follow up. An important truth is that for many years, your school communities have been raising concerns about the building. The building was the former Blair High School and was built 90 years ago in 1935. It is old. Twenty-six years ago, the facility's condition and size made it unsuitable to continue as Blair HS - this should have been a big red flag back then.

Since then, MCPS’s best attempts to upgrade the facility have been thwarted by unforeseen building conditions and structural issues that far exceeded projected costs. And as a consequence, projects have been cut short or simply just not done.  This is completely unacceptable and I am sorry that I can’t change decisions made in the past. Presently, the building simply does not allow for the improvements that were promised to you, and I cannot in good conscience recommend the level of investment that would be required to continue operating two permanent schools there. It really has reached the end of its useful life as a permanent home for a school.

And even before this school can transition to a holding school, we know that there is still a ton of work that needs to be done.

Adding to these challenges is the Purple Line construction immediately adjacent to the school site. Though destined to be a huge community asset eventually, the Purple Line does create some real safety concerns, particularly for our many students who walk to school in what is already a very busy area. Again, I know that many in the community have raised the alarms about these conditions for several years; I am both grateful for your dedicated advocacy and sorry that it took this long for MCPS to hear you. This year’s submission of the Capital Improvements Program is my first opportunity as Superintendent to respond and start to make it right. I knew that we needed to make a meaningful investment in Silver Spring and some tough decisions to go along with that investment. None of these recommended decisions was made lightly, but all are in response to your advocacy.

I also announced that the plan says the building would become a holding school for future construction projects, so an obvious question is: if this building isn't suitable for a permanent school, why is it appropriate as a holding school? Really, the main reason is that people – staff, students, families – can manage temporary inconveniences more readily when there's a clear endpoint and a better permanent solution waiting. As I mentioned earlier, even to turn this facility into a holding school will require extensive work. I also need the building to be empty to make those improvements. Importantly, as a holding school, all students would arrive by bus rather than walking through the increasingly complex and busy streets around the Purple Line.

As a reminder, I have recommended the following:

For Sligo Creek Elementary School: We will build a brand new Sligo Creek Elementary School on a new site in the Silver Spring area. The school would open for the fall of 2029.  This is an ambitious timeline and site selection would need to happen this Spring.

For Silver Spring International Middle School: We will repurpose the building as a secondary holding school and accommodate SSIMS students through other middle schools in the area, including new construction additions at Eastern Middle School and Sligo Middle School. We are planning for Silver Spring International Middle School to close in August 2030, and this means no student currently enrolled at SSIMS will be impacted by this closure.

It is also important to note that these are recommendations before the Board of Education and that this extensive investment into Silver Spring schools also requires funding by the County Council.  I mention this because there is a long road ahead and this is one part of a very long, multiyear process before any of this becomes reality.

I can only imagine the questions that have arisen following our virtual meeting, and so we created this Question or Concerns Form to collect your thoughts and questions. My team and I are committed to meeting with you in person very soon, where we will answer your questions and talk more about the very real reasons that these are the right decisions for both schools. Details about this next meeting are being developed as I write this, and we'll share them when they are complete. 

I know that this news was shocking to some and validating for others. I think it is really important to be clear and straightforward with you about our situation and our next steps (even if that means that you may not like some of the things I have to say). To that end, I want to be clear with you about the state of the building and the limits of what we can reasonably fix. This is about shifting our focus from struggling with a building that has defeated our best efforts to ensuring better school environments for all. 

Here are our immediate next steps:

• Beginning with the Board of Education worksession on November 4, we will provide more details about the facility analysis that brought us to this decision, and the facility projects and supports we will implement for both schools;  
• We will schedule in-person school community meetings;
• We will provide responses to the questions you submit in the Questions or Concerns Form; and
• As we move forward, we will continue to communicate with you regularly as we make improvements to the current building and plan for any transitions.

Again, thank you for your time in reading this really long but important message. I look forward to connecting with you very soon. 

Sincerely,

Thomas W. Taylor, EdD, MBA

Superintendent of Schools 

‘No longer tenable’: MCPS to recommend closure of aging Silver Spring International Middle by 2031

 In Bethesda Today, reporter Ashlyn Campbell. Full story here. Yellow highlights my own.

Plan calls for students to be divided between rebuilt Eastern, Sligo middle schools

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will recommend the closure of the aging Silver Spring International Middle School by 2031 as part of its proposed six-year capital improvements program, Superintendent Thomas Taylor announced Monday. 

In a 15-minute Zoom meeting Monday afternoon, Taylor told the Silver Spring International Middle School (SSIMS) community that he is planning to recommend the closure when he presents a preview of the district’s proposed 2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) to community members on Tuesday.  

Instead of replacing the middle school, MCPS will recommend the renovation of Eastern and Sligo middle schools in Silver Spring and then divide the SSIMS community between the updated facilities, Taylor told the group of about 70 in the online meeting.  

“Eventually, five years down the road, we would like to move to a place where SSIMS … can become a holding school for the school district and no longer be a school that’s [operating] in its current state,” Taylor said during the meeting. “Now that’s dramatic news. It is probably different than what you expect, but it is in response to a lot of what we have heard from our parents and from our students and from our teachers, which is that the learning environment at SSIMS is no longer tenable.” 

Breaking**Inspector General: "Actions of MCPS senior leaders do not demonstrate either accountability or transparency." Report on MCPS Failure to Background Check Staff/Contractors/Volunteers.

Today, the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General issued a report entitled, "Review of MCPS Background Screening Office."

The IG's Report details disturbing gaps in the MCPS background checks of staff, contractors and volunteers.

The MCPS Superintendent, Thomas W. Taylor, responded to the Report and criticized the IG's process.

The IG responded to the Superintendent's criticism with a response letter that included the following statements:  

...OIG staff met with members of the Superintendent’s leadership team on June 25th and in response to that meeting made corrections to address the concerns raised and provided a revised draft report on July 7th. On July 16th we held another meeting to discuss MCPS’s proposed corrective actions and address any other questions or issues. At no time during or after that meeting did MCPS leadership request additional changes to the report, raise wording discrepancies, or identify any inaccuracies. The Superintendent did not attend either of these  meetings, and despite his claims, MCPS leaders did not exhibit or invite an authentic collaboration. In fact, during our last meeting with MCPS leadership, they repeatedly refused to discuss specifics of certain planned actions which would assist the OIG in determining if the proposed steps would address observed deficiencies or offer alternative considerations. It was only in the Superintendent’s July 25th formal response that we learned of the nature and extent of discussions with the State regarding CPS checks...

...Lastly, in contrast to their statements, the actions by MCPS senior leaders do not demonstrate either accountability or transparency. The fact remains that thousands of individuals with unsupervised access to MCPS schools and students have not had a criminal history check in more than five years and thousands more have not completed a CPS check. In the end, only one entity is tasked with and has accepted the responsibility for obtaining these background checks to safeguard employees and students, and that is MCPS.  

The full IG Report is reproduced below: 

Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland screening of employees by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

Springbrook High teachers raise concerns about principal’s alleged bullying, retaliation

After a group of teachers at Silver Spring’s Springbrook High School raised concerns about Principal Stephanie Valentine allegedly bullying and retaliating against staff, the school will be holding several listening sessions to address the concerns, according to letters from the school’s staff and Valentine.  

One letter dated March 11 was shared with Bethesda Today on March 21. It was written by several Springbrook High staff members and sent to Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) administrators, school board members and others with the aim of bringing “to your attention the very harmful workplace culture at Springbrook High School that has been fostered under the leadership of Principal Stephanie Valentine,” the letter said. “Over time, a pattern of bullying, intimidation and unprofessional behavior has developed, creating a toxic work environment that significantly affects the morale and well-being of the staff.  

In response, Valentine told staff in an email on March 28 shared with Bethesda Today that listening sessions will be held at the school to help develop “action plans to improve school climate and culture.”  

Valentine has served as the principal of Springbrook High since 2022, according to a 2022 school board document. Prior to serving as the principal of Springbrook, Valentine was the principal of Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring from 2021 to 2022, principal intern at Westland Middle School in Bethesda from 2020 to 2021 and as assistant principal of Francis Scot Key Middle School in Silver Spring from 2016 to 2020, according to the board document...

Springbrook High teachers raise concerns about principal’s alleged bullying, retaliation  - Bethesda Magazine

Breaking: New Superintendent and Board of Education Usher in New Era of Transparency

 April Fools

~~~

Today, the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board issued an official opinion that found the Montgomery County Board of Education violated the Maryland Open Meetings Act during a Closed Session on September 26, 2024, when they discussed the acquisition of diesel school buses for $13.9 million dollars. 

This blog reported on this presumed violation on January 9, 2025, along with other irregularities in the procurement.   

Same old, same old at the Montgomery County Board of Education.  

We will have more on this, including how not only did the Board of Education violate the Open Meetings Act, but how they spent thousands of dollars in outside legal time to defend their violation in multiple responses to the original Complaint I filed on January 9, 2025.  

For now, here is today's Opinion: 

19 OMCB Opinions 070 Montgomery County Board of Education VIOLATED Open Meetings Act by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

Response to OpEd from President of Taxpayers League:

Response from Esther Wells, President of Montgomery County Taxpayers League to March 29, 2025, OpEd on Bethesda Today. 

~~~

This OpEd is disingenuous. “The County Council now needs to decide: Does it invest in education or not?” 

Taxpayers have consistently funded MCPS far above the required levels. So,that’s not the right question to ask. 

The real question is what accountability will MCPS provide Students & Taxpayers in the form of academic ROI [Return on Investment] if we fund MCPS over $250M higher than required to per State law? 

Test scores are stagnant/declining, public safety in our schools are at unacceptable levels, MCPS struggles to ensure every classroom has a teacher in it daily, $168M funds wasted with EV buses that don’t work, multi-million dollar school bus tracking app that can’t protect student data, so that gets canned. 

Millions spent annually in legal fees, embezzlement of funds in transportation dept, the list goes on. 

Let’s balance the conversation and stop making it seem like Taxpayers have not prioritized funding to our schools, we have. 

What we’ve lacked is accountability of the investment. 

Can someone please provide a SMART goal on what the ROI will be to fully fund MCPS in FY2026? Thanks

Esther L. Wells on X: "@bethesda_today This OpEd is disingenuous. “The County Council now needs to decide: Does it invest in education or not?” Taxpayers have consistently funded MCPS far above the required levels. So,that’s not the right question to ask. The real question is what accountability will MCPS provide https://t.co/XY63Y5esTf" / X

Kennedy High community looks to MCPS to improve safety in Silver Spring school

When junior Alex Acuna walks into John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring to start his school day, he feels safe. But in the back of his mind, he says he’s also thinking that walking into the school means it could be his “last day alive.”  

“I’ve seen people who look like grown adults [come into the school] and they were trying to jump my friends,” Acuna said.  

After continued concerns for safety and a back-to-back lockdown and shelter-in-place in January, a group of about 25 Kennedy students, staff and families gathered at the school Wednesday night for a session hosted by the PTSA to discuss how to improve safety in the school moving forward. Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) leaders, including Marcus Jones, the former county police chief who now heads the MCPS Department of Security and Compliance, also attended...

Kennedy High community looks to MCPS to improve safety in Silver Spring school - Bethesda Magazine

Today: BOE & Superintendent Handing $4.7M to Electric Bus Vendor in addition to existing $140M+ EV Lease Payments

Updated at 3:15PM for clarification:

On today's Board of Education Agenda, we see that Superintendent Thomas W. Taylor has presented the Board of Education with a Resolution to hand $4.7M to a company that doesn't have a contract with MCPS. 

The $4.7M is grant funding from the EPA's Clean School Bus program and under Superintendent Taylor's Resolution, MCPS won't see a dime of that funding. This grant money will not offset any payments from MCPS for the electric bus leases. The Grant will be passed through from EPA to Highland Electric.  

MCPS is still on the hook for the full lease payments for this year without any credit for the EPA Grant.

Superintendent Taylor's Resolution states that the Grant funds will be used per the contract between MCPS and Highland Electric. 

MCPS doesn't have a contract with Highland Electric.  MCPS has a contract with a company called HET MCPS, LLC.  And the only contract with HET MCPS, LLC that has ever come before the Board of Education was signed in 2021 and expired in 2022.  

The 2021 MCPS contract with HET MCPS, LLC called for 326 electric school buses to be delivered by 2024.  

Today's Resolution from Superintendent Taylor seems to suggest that he has extended the contract multiple times or entered into a new contract with a different company without notification to the Board of Education or the public. 

The Resolution notes that the $4.7M will go to a vendor and not to MCPS.  MCPS will not be given a credit for this grant and their annual lease payments will still be due. 

Superintendent Taylor throws in a sentence about how this transfer is "presumed" to have been part of the contract.  

Is he referring to the contract signed in 2021 that expired a year later?  Or is he referring to a new contract that he has signed without Board of Education approval or public notice?  

The original 2021 contract that was supposed to be "budget neutral" has since been shown to require MCPS to spend 28% more for the acquisition of electric school buses.  

Who determined the electric school buses are 28% more expensive than diesel school buses?

CESO, the company that the Board of Education hired to thoroughly audit the MCPS Department of Transportation.  The CESO report was final in January of 2024, and immediately buried by MCPS, never to see the light of day. 

Part 4 of CESO Report, Page 6: 

As usual, the Superintendent has put this Resolution on the Consent Agenda indicating that he already knows the Board of Education will unanimously vote to hand $4.7M over to a company that they don't have a contract with for electric school buses that they are already paying a 28% premium to lease.

It's a good thing the Board of Education doesn't have any budget concerns this year.  Imagine what that $4.7M could do if it was given to MCPS to offset the cost of the $168M electric school bus contract. 

2025: Spending Authorization without posting contracts and in some cases, without competitive bids.

The Agenda for the January 9, 2025, Board of Education has been posted.  

No details yet, but we do see this one very interesting Agenda Item:

6.2 Expenditure Authorization to Enter into Contracts of $25,000 or More

As it stands now, the Board of Education never even reads or sees the contracts they vote to authorize.

Anything over $25,000 is supposed to come before the Board of Education for "approval" under Board of Education Policy DJA.   

But as we have documented repeatedly, MCPS staff are adept at buying millions of dollars under the table by breaking up the purchases into smaller units.  

Remember Promethean Boards purchased 3-5 at a time and never voted on by the Board of Education for a total in the tens of millions.  And more recently the surprise purchase of tens of millions of BOXLIGHT screens.  And these are just two of such purchases, there's more. 

Governor Wes Moore changed Maryland law to permit public school staff to spend more without Board of Education oversight, but that doesn't mean the Montgomery County Board of Education has to follow his lead.  

Will the newly elected Board of Education members vote to increase waste, fraud and abuse of public-school funds?  Find out on January 9th. 

New: Super. Thomas Taylor on principal change at Wootton HS, "entire school was supposed to receive training" "prior to the start of school, but didn't do"

On December 9, 2024, MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor spoke at the Montgomery County Civic Federation monthly meeting.  

Superintendent Taylor was asked about the recent news out of Wootton High School.  The video below goes to Superintendent Taylor's complete response to this issue.  

Notes from the Superintendent's response: 

Superintendent Thomas Taylor:

 "...as bad as reported...

...events that happened last Monday that I was not aware of until Thursday of last week...

...hold people accountable... 

...there was a leadership change at that school on Thursday night...

...sometimes leadership change is necessary and needs to be swift...

...I am not afraid to do that...I recognize that sometimes puts me sideways with a union or two...

...I was very disappointed to find out that the entire school that was supposed to receive some training in this space did not receive that training and that's very disheartening...

...now stopped the world and done emergency training with staff that they should have done prior to the start of the school year but didn't do..."

Tonight: Superintendent Thomas Taylor at Civic Federation Meeting on Zoom at 7 PM

DECEMBER MEETING

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2024

MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Time:  7:00 p.m.

https://montgomerycivic.org/index.html

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82434200537#success

7News presses MCPS about electric bus negotiations and $1.5 million owed to system

WASHINGTON (7News) — More than a month ago, 7News told you Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) revealed the contractor hired to supply electric buses to the school system owes MCPS more than a million dollars in fees.

Now, we're asking the school district how the process of recovering the $1.5 million is going...

7News presses MCPS about electric bus negotiations and $1.5 million owed to system

‘Our current path is not sustainable’: Montgomery Co. schools superintendent, council look at challenges to school funding

Montgomery County’s Superintendent of Schools Thomas Taylor told the county council that he’s focused on the tough fiscal picture ahead for the school system that educates more than 161,500 students.

“What is clear in my examination of the budget, and as illustrated in the data that you have before you today, is that our current path is not sustainable,” Taylor said at a county council work session on Tuesday.

Taylor and Board of Education President Karla Silvestre were among the school officials at the work session on the school system’s “cost drivers” — expenses that fuel the budget.

Craig Howard, the county council’s new executive director, explained that over a period of 10 years, FYs 2015-25, the operating budget grew by 3.9% on average each year.

In June, the county council approved a $3.3 billion operating budget for FY 2025.

Noting that nearly 90% of the operating budget is spent on staffing, Taylor said, “The system must engage in a thorough reevaluation of resource allocation.”..

‘Our current path is not sustainable’: Montgomery Co. schools superintendent, council look at challenges to school funding - WTOP News

Superintendent recommends asking for $21.6 million in local funding

FACT CHECK:  In the article below, Superintendent Thomas Taylor says "none of the key personnel" are still with MCPS.  That is FALSE.  Superintendent Taylor has hired former MCPS Associate Superintendent of Operations back as the MCPS Chief of Staff.  The MCPS Associate Superintendent of Operations is a key person in the Capital Budget process. 

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MCPS error leads to $39.3 million state aid shortfall for Woodward High construction

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is facing a $39.3 million shortfall in funding for the ongoing construction of Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville due to its state aid calculation errors in 2021, but won’t lose out on state funding in the long run, district staff said Thursday. 

To close the funding gap, MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor is recommending to the school board that $17.7 million be reallocated from other district projects and also asking the County Council to provide an additional $21.6 million for the project. 

“I want to make it clear that this issue was entirely MCPS’ fault,” Taylor said at a school board work session on Thursday. “We are working to correct it, and though this will not have a net negative impact on state construction revenues over the long run, it does have an impact on these projects and I’m sorry for that.” ...

...At Thursday’s work session, Taylor said “none of the key personnel” involved in the erroneous submission to the state are still working for MCPS... 

MCPS error leads to $39.3 million state aid shortfall for Woodward High construction

WUSA9: Montgomery Co. Public Schools loses out on $39M in funding due to a submission error

The multi-million-dollar loss was due to an error in the Montgomery County Public Schools submission for aid in the Charles W. Woodward Project.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Montgomery County Public Schools has lost more than $39 million in funding due to a submission error, according to a letter from Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor.

The 288-page letter outlines a recommended capital budget for Fiscal Year 2026 and includes suggestions on how the district can make up for the huge loss in state aid...

...Janis Sartucci, a member of Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County wants to know how an almost 40-million-dollar mistake slipped through the cracks.

“There are multiple steps and lots of people involved in approving these construction contracts. This isn’t just someone making a minor error. And, who suffers? The community, schools, this 17 million could be going to other needs in our system.” Sartucci, said...

MCPS loses out on $39M in funding due to a submission error | wusa9.com

@mcps Chief of Staff Essie McGuire Approved a Woodward HS Contract using Non-Prevailing Wages in 2021

 

In 2021, Essie McGuire was the MCPS Associate Superintendent of Operations.  In that capacity she reviewed the Award of Contract for the Project Site Work at the Woodward High School site.  

The Resolution submitted to the Montgomery County Board of Education was brief, but clearly stated that the "project was bid to include both prevailing and non-prevailing wages." 

Using non-prevailing wages means the contracts would not be complying with Maryland procurement law.  

Woodward High School's project was attempting to use Maryland's Built to Learn (BTL) funding.  The BTL funding information sheet makes clear that complying with Maryland's prevailing wage law is required. 

EM approved this Resolution for presentation to the Board of Education.  In 2021, EM was Essie McGuire, MCPS Associate Superintendent for Operations.

Today, Essie McGuire has been hired back by Superintendent Thomas Taylor to work as MCPS' current Chief of Staff. 

FYI: Maryland's Prevailing Wage Law

 Overview - Prevailing Wage for State Funded Construction Contracts

Overview
In government contracting, a prevailing wage is defined as the hourly wage, usually benefits and overtime, normally paid to the majority of workers, laborers, and mechanics within a particular area. Prevailing wages are established by regulatory agencies, such as government, for each public works trade and occupation, as well as by State Departments of Labor or their equals.

Annual Survey
The Prevailing Wage Unit compiles a list of registered contractors, contractor's associations and labor organizations who will be notified electronically when to voluntarily participate in the annual Prevailing Wage Rate Survey. The Commissioner encourages all interested groups to voluntarily electronically submit data detailing wage rates paid to workers on various types of construction in all localities in Maryland.

The Prevailing Wage Unit conducts an annual survey of wages paid throughout the State during the months of September and October. Contractors, subcontractors, trade associations, and labor groups who wish to participate in the survey must register with the Prevailing Wage Unit in order to be notified when the survey begins and ends. If you would like to be notified when the survey period begins, please register online. If you have not registered prior to the beginning of the survey period, you may still register online and participate in the survey at any time between September 1st and October 31st.

Prevailing Wage Law
The Prevailing Wage law regulates the hours of labor, rates of pay, conditions of employment, obligations of employers and duties of certain public officials under contracts and subcontracts for public works in Maryland.

Services Covered Under The Prevailing Wage Law
The Prevailing Wage law applies to a construction project valued at $250,000 or more if either of the following criteria are met:

1. the contracting public body is a unit of State Government or an instrumentality of the State, and there is any State funding for the project; or
2. the contracting public body is a political subdivision, agency, person or entity (such as a county) and the State funds 25% or more of the project including school construction.

Please see the State Finance and Procurement Article for more information regarding Services Covered Under the Prevailing Wage Law...

Overview - Prevailing Wage for State Funded Construction Contracts - Division of Labor and Industry

MCPS Superintendent reveals loss of $39.3 million in state aid due to submission error

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — 7News has learned an error in the school system‘s submission for state aid could negatively impact school improvement projects.

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor made the admission in a letter that was part of his recommended capital budget for Fiscal Year 2026.

In the letter addressed to the school board, he wrote about the Capital Improvement Program (CIP)...

MCPS Superintendent reveals loss of $39.3 million in state aid due to submission error

Proterra Engines in use in MCPS Electric School Buses

The specifications for the first round of electric school buses in use in Montgomery County Public Schools shows that the buses were to have PROTERRA engines.