MCPS has reduced the budget for the 2024-25 school year, cutting programs like the Virtual Academy, increasing class sizes, and delaying the expansion of the pre-kindergarten program. The cuts come as a result of losses in pandemic relief funds and also a $30 million shortfall of the Board of Education’s funding request.

As the 2024-25 school year crept closer, MCPS faced the pressing issue of how to compensate for a financial loss from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed by Congress at the start of the pandemic. This loss of funds, combined with receiving around $30 million less than what it requested for approval by the Montgomery County Council, led MCPS to cut the Virtual Academy. Facing pushback over the closure, Superintendent Thomas Taylor proposed the expansion of more hybrid-learning opportunities, though stated  that reopening the virtual school was “not an option.’’

As a result of tighter staffing, increased class sizes have posed difficulties for teachers as more students translates to larger workload. Schools have been forced to accommodate larger classes, and as operating costs have risen, administrators and school boards have to tackle the question of which programs need to be cut.

MCPS in the 2022-23 school year alone saw the resignation of more than 635 teachers in core subjects, including English, Special Education, Art, and Music. The county has been forced to make up for staff shortages, compensating for the unintended consequences of the pandemic with enlarged classes and cut programs.

MCEA Sherwood Representative Glenn Miller discussed the budget cuts with Sherwood staff. “There was a lot of anxiety about what those cuts would do,” said Miller. Many staff have reported increased class sizes and a need for further support through hiring more teachers, but that has been unable to happen “because we aren’t given the staffing [in the budget].” From what he has been told from staff, the trends for class sizes are impacting mostly core classes, with many teachers “seeing upwards of 30 to 34 [students per class].”

The toll of larger classes on teachers is an emotional one. “When class sizes increase something has to give,” said Christine McKeldin, the head of the social studies department. McKeldin spoke of her own experiences juggling multiple roles at once in her job and at home, where the question became whether to do less for her students, her family, or herself.

Among herself and her colleagues, McKeldin said that the eventual choice was to sacrifice the time spent for themselves. “If I wanted to give individual attention to my students” remarked McKeldin, “they could each have less than 90 seconds.”