MCPS Recommended FY 2011 Budget Passed!

The Montgomery County Board of Education met on Wednesday, February 17, and, among other items, adopted the FY 2011 Operating Budget.

The Board approved a $2.263 billion operating budget recommendation for Fiscal Year 2011. The budget proposal funds no new initiatives but, as the state's "maintenance of effort" provision requires, maintains the same level of local per-student funding for FY 2011 as the district received for the current school year. This budget recommends NO CUTS and an increase in 1% to accommodate for the thousands of new kids that enrolled in MCPS this year. For more information please go to the following post.

The Budget will now go to the County Executive, the County Council, and the State who will determine whether or not to fund it and how much to fund it by. The first step is the County Council. The County Council is required by law to fully fund the MCPS Maintenance of Effort Budget (What is Maintenance of Effort?) . Remember, if the County Council does not fully fund the budget, we will lose $51 Million in State Aid (because of the County Council does not fund MOE, the State does not pay for local education) in addition to the penalty already ($23.5 Million) put on us and the deficit that they put on the backs of MCPS ($?? Million). In essence, the County Council will be determining 92% of the funding for MCPS. Based on the amount the County Council and the State give, that is how MCPS will have to determine what cuts will have to be made.

In April, the County Council will be holding hearings on the county-wide budget (which funds 72% of MCPS's budget). I will keep you updated on how you can participate in these hearings and how you can tell the County Council that they need to fully fund our educations and our futures!