Council Counters Legal Challenge from County Board of Education

The Montgomery County Council will vigorously defend its authority to balance the County operating budget equitably between the public schools and other vital services. That’s why the Council sent a letter to Montgomery Board of Education President Christopher Barclay asking board to withdraw its Petition for Declaratory Ruling with the State Board of Education and avoid the potential for litigation. I've included the full text of the letter at the bottom of this post.

Montgomery County’s Board of Education filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling with the Maryland State Board of Education on March 2 seeking an order that would interpret the state’s Maintenance of Effort school funding law to effectively eliminate the County Council’s ability to equitably balance the County operating budget.

The voter-approved County Charter assigns final budget and appropriation authority over all County-funded agencies, including Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), to the County Council.

The state educational Maintenance of Effort law requirement for Fiscal Year 2012 would force the County to increase the MCPS budget by $82 million (or 5.8 percent) above last year’s approved funding of $1.4 billion, even though the County faces a $300 million gap in its overall budget. This law ignores the fact that over the last decade the County has funded MCPS at a total of $577 million above the annual Maintenance of Effort requirements.

While we all agree with the intent of the law, it allows no flexibility during a fiscal crisis. We have always supported education, and we always will. We also support the other services funded by Montgomery County. Many of those include services for children outside of school.

This year Montgomery's operating budgets for police, fire, libraries, safety net and other core County services were reduced by levels not seen in more than 40 years, some by more than 20 percent. The coming fiscal year promises more of the same. We need the Board of Education’s help in balancing the budget in a way that preserves core services and does not adversely impact classroom instruction.

We’re all Montgomery County residents, and we’re all in this together. We will continue to work with the Board of Education and other stakeholders as we move through the budget process and as we strive to meet the needs of our nearly one million residents.

Here’s the full text of the letter:

Mr. Christopher S. Barclay, President
Montgomery County Board of Education
Carver Educational Services Center
850 Hungerford Drive, Room 123
Rockville, MD 20850

Dear Board President Barclay,

I am writing to express the Council’s extreme disappointment with the Board’s latest legal maneuver to challenging our budget and appropriation authority in the County Charter. The Council will vigorously defend its authority and responsibility under the Charter to balance the County operating budget equitably between the public schools and other vital services.

The Council regrets that you did not consult with any of its members or even notify us about the Board’s March 2 filing for a Petition for Declaratory Ruling with the Maryland State Board of Education. Seeking this order, at a time when we are all attempting to work collaboratively to solve our budget crisis, is a wasteful distraction. 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.

The voter-approved County Charter assigns final budget and appropriation authority over all County-funded agencies, including MCPS, to the County Council. As we have in the past, we will balance the needs of our students, other County service recipients, and taxpayers in adopting an operating budget that is fair to all. Despite your unprecedented legal action, this Council is committed to balancing the school budget in a way that does not adversely impact classroom instruction.

My hope is that we can continue to collaborate on issues that affect education and that you will roll up your sleeves with us to do what is required to help us equitably balance our operating budget for all of our residents. Montgomery County residents deserve no less from their elected officials. We request that you start by withdrawing your Petition for Declaratory Ruling.

Sincerely,
Valerie Ervin Council President

c: Shirley Brandman, Vice President
Philip Kauffman
Judith Docca
Laura Berthiaume
Patricia O’Neill
Michael A. Durso
Alan Xie