State Aid for Education Should Be Spent on Education

As reported in today's Gazette newspaper, the County Council appears determined to impose even deeper cuts in the MCPS budget.

Here's the flaw in the County Council's thinking: the Montgomery County Council has already been spending a smaller percentage of its local tax revenue on schools. The only way one can claim that the MCPS budget accounts for "57%" of the county budget is to include federal and state aid for education. If you back out state and federal aid, and look at LOCAL TAX REVENUES, you see that MCPS' share of the county budget has been dropping for eight years. Today, the MCPS budget accounts for just 44.7% of the local tax revenues. In FY2003, MCPS represented 52.5% of local tax revenues.

It is the influx of increased state and federal aid for education that has been funding our schools since then. But next year, even though our legislative delegation just succeeded in getting a $65 million increase in state education aid for Montgomery County schools, it appears that the County Council is not going to use that money to increase the school budget by $65 million. Instead, the County Council is going to use that new state education funding to reduce the County's contribution to our schools so they can use the money on other priorities.

One would have hoped we could all agree that state aid for education should be used for education.  The Council's action will seriously undermine the county's credibility in Annapolis.

It's not too late to influence the Council's decision-making. Contact Council members today to tell them that state aid for education should be spent on our schools. And forward this message to your colleagues, your friends, and your online social networks (Facebook, Linked In, etc.)