Montgomery County Council members dismissed a school board funding request as dead on arrival Monday, kicking off a contentious debate about the burden of the celebrated school system in closing a massive budget shortfall. “The [schools] budget is simply unrealistic and unaffordable,” Councilman Phil Andrews D-Gaithersburg/Rockville, said in the first formal budget meeting between the two camps this year. “To have a $100 million budget increase, that’s a non-starter. It’s nowhere in the ballpark.”
| Bag tax wins committee OK |
| A Montgomery County Council panel approved a 5-cent tax on each paper and plastic carryout bag bought at retail locations in the suburb, mirroring a similar law in the District implemented to remove trash from area waters. |
| “I am alone on this,” said Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, D-at large, the lone critic of the bill, alluding to the inevitability of its passage. |
| The county estimates the tax would generate roughly $1.5 million next year, which would be directed to water and litter cleanup. |
| Unlike the District, the bill would apply to virtually all stores — not just those that sell food. The full council is expected to pass the law in coming weeks. – Brian Hughes |
School officials have requested an additional $101 million for next fiscal year, including $82 million more in county funding. County Executive Ike Leggett refused to honor the request, citing the suburb’s $300 million shortfall next fiscal year.
The county currently spends $2.1 billion — 57 percent of the county’s budget — on its public schools.
Council members say they are being inundated with complaints from concerned parents who were fed an exaggerated version of cutbacks as school officials propose roughly $32 million in raises for their employees.
“You’re putting the council in a position where we have to defend something we haven’t decided,” Council President Valerie Ervin, D-Silver Spring, told the school officials.
Under state law, the county is required to spend the same amount per student as the year before. Leggett has applied for a waiver for the third straight year, which if not approved, would cost the county millions of dollars in state aid.
The debate has clearly formed a wedge in the county’s work force, as Superintendent Jerry Weast has not embraced the retirement and health care cuts Leggett proposed for general government workers.
“Sometimes it’s projected like the schools are being greedy; we really do have to stay on the path to excellence,” said school board President Christopher Barclay, adding that school officials aren’t required to follow Leggett’s lead.
The county’s share of health insurance costs would drop from 80 percent to 70 percent for general government employees, and they would pay 2 percent more into their pension plans, under Leggett’s budget.
Without any changes, the county would pay roughly 95 cents of every dollar in health care costs for school employees.
“We are going to be asking for more,” warned Councilman Craig Rice, D-Germantown. “We hope you understand that.”
