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FAQ

November 5, 2013

To submit a question for this page send an email to [email protected].

How does MCPS spend its money?

The value of a school division is in the people - highly qualified staff educate the children in Montgomery County Public Schools every day. As a result, most of our money is spent in personnel costs.

What cuts have already been made to the MCPS budget?

MCPS has cut:

  • More than 50 staff members - this increases class size and has a direct impact on education and services.
  • Supply Budgets - teachers and parents now have to provide more classroom supplies due to lower supply budgets for everything from copy paper to markers to paper towels.
  • Field Trip Budgets - Field trips are important hands-on learning opportunities for students. 

How much revenue is generated by a one cent property tax increase?

  • $700,000

What is the monetary value of increasing class size?

  • A 1 student increase in the pupil-teacher-ratio across all grade levels eliminates 42 positions at a savings of $2.5 million.

How does closing a school create cost savings in the budget?

When a building is closed, the required energy and maintenance costs for the building are reduced.  Also, the support staff in a building is reduced when schools are combined.  Closing a school of approximately 250 students will generate cost savings of about $250,000. 

What is an FTE?

FTE stands for Full Time Equivalent.  When planning budgets, we use this acronym to symbolize how many staff positions would have to be cut based on the average teacher salary.  When finalized, the numbers may be different - some staff members may make more than the average amount and some may make less.  However, using FTE allows us to estimate how many positions we would lose. 

What is the value of an FTE?

MCPS uses the average teacher salary including benefits to set an FTE value.  It is $63,800 for the 2014-2015 school year.

How can I help stop further decrease in education funding?

Contact your local legislator.  Tell them that you support education in Montgomery County.  If you would support a local tax increase to help bring MCPS back to the level of funding that used to exist and the level of services MCPS used to provide, please let them know. 

Montgomery County Board of Supervisors

Virginia General Assembly

To receive updates whenever new items are posted to the budget update webpage, please email [email protected] and include "Budget" in the subject line.

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