The largest school districts around the region are shelling out big bucks to publicize their successes, but as talk swirls around program cuts and wiped-out raises for teachers, some question the necessity of schools’ spin machines.

Montgomery County budgeted the most money for its 78-person communications team, asking for $8.7 million of the district’s $2.1 billion requested fiscal 2009 budget, up nearly $700,000 from the current year.