Montgomery County Public Schools cut 40 school social worker positions this year, officials told the County Council's Education and Culture Committee on Monday, Oct. 26, accounting for the vast majority of 47 total layoffs tied to the district's fiscal 2027 budget.

The layoffs are part of a broader reduction of 415 full-time positions the Board of Education adopted in June, Moderately MOCO reported. A Council staff memo shows 162 employees were involuntarily transferred and 20 retired from eliminated positions.

Of the social workers let go, 24 worked in high schools, 12 in middle schools and four in the Department of Student Well-being, according to an MCPS spreadsheet cited in the report. A Council staff memo table listed 46 layoffs, while MCPS's written response to the committee put the figure at 47, with the additional cut tied to what the district called "a very specific and unique position" that came at the end of the summer.

"I just want to say that these are real people, and real jobs, and that have an impact in the classroom," Council Member Will Jawando, who chairs the committee, said as he opened the session.

The district also cut $1.6 million in contracted school-based mental health therapy previously provided by Jewish Social Services Agency and Thrive Behavioral Health. MCPS said it is now relying on a $12 million state grant administered by the county Department of Health and Human Services. Officials acknowledged to the committee that the shift could increase waitlists for services.

Council Member Kristin Mink called the handoff of mental health work from MCPS to the county "kind of a Band-Aid ripoff moment," saying families had been calling old phone numbers that now go unanswered, according to Moderately MOCO's account.

$16 million in retirement payouts

To limit layoffs, MCPS offered a retirement incentive that drew 577 retirees. The district paid them a combined $16,026,346 as of July 1, according to the Council staff memo prepared by analysts Doug Prouty and Kristin Cummings. That total included $5.9 million in incentive payments, $1.8 million for unused annual leave and $8.3 million for unused sick leave.

Officials told the committee they could not say employee by employee whether the retirements prevented specific job losses. Savings data from the program is not yet available, the memo states.

Enrollment dropping faster than expected

MCPS Chief Financial Officer Ivon Alfonso-Windsor told the committee the district has 3,200 fewer students than it projected, on top of a 4,800-student decline already planned for. That puts the total shortfall at roughly 8,000 students.

Alfonso-Windsor said 600 fewer kindergartners enrolled than expected. The gap is concentrated in elementary and high schools, about 1,000 to 1,100 fewer elementary students and about 1,000 fewer high school students than projected. Middle school enrollment held steady.

Bethesda Magazine reported Oct. 15 that MCPS enrollment dropped by 4,083 students from the prior year, the largest single-year decline since the pandemic.

Officials said schools are now staffed above what enrollment calls for but that MCPS will not cut positions mid-year. Looking ahead, Alfonso-Windsor warned that "decreased staffing will result in a lot of involuntary transfers" in the next budget cycle.

MCPS plans to share withdrawal data with the Board of Education at a capital budget work session in the coming weeks.