Weast's $1.7 Billion Budget Targets Class Size, Special-Ed

Montgomery County School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast (File Photo)

Montgomery County School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast will propose a $1.7 billion budget today that adds nearly 200 staff positions to reduce class size, improve special education and continue the expansion of all-day kindergarten.

Weast's request for fiscal 2006 exceeds the current budget by $109 million and calls on the County Council to increase funding by $69 million. Last year, the school district asked for and received an additional $85 million from the county. The spending plan does not include school construction or other capital expenses, which are budgeted separately.

In an interview, Weast described a series of student achievement initiatives built into the new budget. They are designed to help students pass standardized tests without limiting their learning to what is on the exams, he said.

"Our students deserve a robust curriculum," he said. "They deserve strong teachers and small classes, and that's what we're trying to give them."

The 2006 budget includes $26 million for these initiatives -- money the district saved in part when it renegotiated its contract for employee health benefits with an insurance company earlier this year. The rest comes from savings in payroll, which jumped in fiscal 2005 because teachers agreed to defer a 2004 wage increase for one year.

Weast will present the budget at 7:30 tonight at Rockville High School. The Board of Education will hold two public hearings, on Jan. 13 and 20, then vote on the proposed spending plan in February. County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) will make his recommendations to the County Council in the spring.

The plan calls for several new programs, including the first broad plan in two decades to reduce class size, Weast said. At a cost of $10 million, the district hopes to hire 175 teachers next year, with most of the jobs in elementary schools. The goal is to decrease elementary school classes from about 28 students to about 20.

"From the teacher's perspective, there are few things that have the significant impact that class size does on improving the quality of learning that goes on in a classroom," said Bonnie Cullison, the Montgomery teachers' union president.

The district also plans to increase the support staff -- secretaries, food service workers, and safety and maintenance personnel -- by about 180, and add 18 elementary school assistant principals. Weast said the need for assistant principals has become clear in recent years with emergencies such as the 2002 sniper attacks.

"There's no time to be a good instructional leader if they're the only one in the building to deal with this," he said.

The district has budgeted $2.4 million to expand all-day kindergarten to 20 additional schools next year, making it available to children at 93 elementary schools. Maryland law requires districts to make all-day kindergarten available to all children by 2007. Weast said Montgomery will meet that goal, expanding the program to all 125 county elementary schools in two years.

The student achievement initiatives also include $3.3 million for improving special education, the largest allocation ever in Montgomery schools. The 2006 budget creates space for 54 additional special education teachers and speech pathologists, as well as new staff members for preschool special education