‘We need more accountability’: Glass calls for reforms to MCPS budget process

County Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) is calling for reforms to the county school board’s budget process as board members face a decision Thursday on whether to cut more than 400 positions to eliminate a $36 million gap in the fiscal year 2027 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) budget. 

“Our teachers, our parents, and our staff should not have to go through this year after year, waiting for ever-changing budgets to see how they get impacted, some of them for their livelihoods,” Glass, who is running for county executive, said in a Wednesday press conference held in the Rockville County Council building. “We need more transparency, we need more accountability and we need more oversight.”  

Glass said Wednesday he is calling for reforms to state law to provide more transparency, increase school board positions from part time to full time and to add a representative from the county executive’s office to the school board. When asked if he would introduce county legislation to address his proposed education budget reforms, Glass noted the school board is an entity created by the state and only reports to the state.  

Glass’ announcement came after MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor announced Tuesday afternoon a revised list of proposed position cuts needed to close the spending gap in the district’s operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year.  

The school board is scheduled to consider Taylor’s recommended reductions Thursday as part of its adoption of the $3.72 billion MCPS operating budget approved last month by the County Council for fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1.    

Initially recommending more than 430 position cuts, Taylor said that number has been reduced to 415, with the list of reductions now including unfilled vacancies and newly proposed positions — such as 28 new security assistant jobs — in place of some existing jobs that had been on the chopping block. Among the existing jobs that have been restored are 18 school psychologists, 27 college and career navigators and 15 school staff development teachers.  

Local advocacy groups this week urged the school board not to cut jobs that support students in order to close the budget gap.