The Montgomery County Council formally asked the county school board to withdraw its petition to the state asking about education funding, seen as a precursor to a lawsuit, calling it a “wasteful distraction.” Council President Valerie Ervin, D-Silver Spring, wrote a letter to school board President Christopher Barclay to express her “extreme disappointment with the board’s latest legal maneuver,” asserting that the council will “vigorously defend” its budgeting authority and scolding Barclay for getting lawyers involved. “It will divert scarce tax dollars to cover MCPS’ legal fees when all our resources are needed to provide direct services to our students and residents,” Ervin said.
Montgomery County Public Schools took the first step toward a lawsuit, County Council members say, when it asked the Maryland State Board of Education for a “declaratory ruling” of the state’s per-pupil funding requirement — which County Executive Ike Leggett says he can’t afford to meet when he releases his budget on Tuesday.
Under the state’s “maintenance of effort” requirement, the county would have to pump $82 million more into Montgomery public schools next year to accommodate 3,340 more students.
Montgomery is facing a $300 million shortfall next budget year, after filling a $1 billion budget gap this year. It currently spends $2.1 billion — 57 percent of the county’s budget — on its public schools.
Ervin asked Barclay to “roll up [his] sleeves and do what is required” to balance the budget, starting by withdrawing the petition.
Barclay did not return phone calls requesting comment. When The Washington Examiner first reported the petition on Wednesday, he would not confirm the board was considering a lawsuit.
“We have never made an indication that we want to get into the business we were in last year,” he said, referencing the school board’s sending of a draft of lawsuit papers to the council.
Marc Elrich, D-at large, said he was “shocked” by the board’s latest move. “Some of us had talked with school board members as recently as Friday — I talked to a board member on Sunday — and they didn’t say anything about it,” he said. “I feel like I wasted my time talking to people and getting people to a place where it felt like we could work through this.”
Last year, the poor financial situation earned Montgomery a waiver from the state, but officials say that’s unlikely again. Without a waiver, Montgomery County would lose $33 million in state aid, savings of $49 million compared with the schools’ $82 million request.
