The Declining County Funding of MCPS

FACT CHECK: For close to a decade, the Montgomery County Government has been spending a smaller and smaller share of its locally raised revenues on our schools. Were it not for infusions of increased state and federal aid for education, we would have seen even more dramatic cuts in our schools.

    But now, our schools aren't even getting the increased state funding that our legislative delegation has fought so hard for.
    In FY2010, Montgomery County got $40 million in increased state aid for education. But instead of passing all those funds along to our schools, the County Council reduced its local funding by over $63 million - effectively diverting all of the $40 million in state education funding to other purposes.
    In FY2011, MoCo got more than $48 million in increased state aid for education, but the County Government used most of it to offset a decrease in local funding of $35 million.
    And now for FY2012, even though MoCo got $65 million in increased state aid for education, the County Council is considering diverting all of that into the county's general fund, rather than spending it on our schools.