The Montgomery County Board of Education voted unanimously on Thursday, June 25, to approve a 6.23% pay raise for its highest-paid administrators while cutting 415 other jobs.
The raises go to chiefs, deputy chiefs and associate superintendents. In the previous fiscal year, 15 chiefs and the general counsel each earned nearly $250,000. Four associate superintendents and two deputy chiefs were paid $225,768. Those same roles will see the 6.23% bump for fiscal year 2027, while social workers, family engagement specialists and pupil personnel workers lose their jobs.
The raise applies to "positions not on the salary schedule," MCPS spokesperson Liliana Lopez confirmed. It breaks down as a 3.25% general wage adjustment plus a step increase of approximately 2.98%, according to MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram.
Board member Rita Montoya said at the June 25 meeting that the annual pay increase for non-union administrators is not new. It happens every year because those salaries fall outside union contracts.
Superintendent Thomas Taylor framed the raises differently, pointing to the position eliminations.
"Because we also had position reductions, this particular line in your budget is actually a net savings this year," Taylor said.
What the cuts look like
Of the 415 positions eliminated, approximately 255 are existing roles and 160 are newly proposed positions that will not be filled, according to the district's list of cuts reported by Bethesda Magazine.
An open letter from MCPS student journalists, published in June in response to the proposed budget, put specific numbers to the losses: 43 social workers who provided crisis support, 17 English for Multilingual Learners counselors and 40 composition assistants. The letter was signed by representatives of 19 school newspapers, including The Churchill Observer and The Common Sense at Wootton.
No district data specifies which individual schools lose which positions. But Churchill is already projected to exceed capacity by the 2030-31 school year under the Montgomery County Planning Board's fiscal year 2027 Annual School Test, raising questions about how the school will absorb any staffing reductions.
What comes next
The next MCPS Board Business Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 16, at 4 p.m.
