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Montgomery County Schools leaders planning around less money from approved budget

Montgomery County schools are receiving less than half of what they asked for from the county

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. โ€“ Montgomery County Schools Superintendent, Dr. Bernard F. Bragen Jr. and his team are having to adjust their budget after they wonโ€™t be receiving what they asked for from the county.

On Monday, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors approved a new real estate tax rate of $0.70 per $100 of assessed value. While some people in the county will be paying less in taxes, the school division is left with less money than what they hoped for.

โ€œWhen you ask for $6.1 million and weโ€™re going to get a little over 2.4, thatโ€™s a significant reduction. When youโ€™re talking in millions of dollars thatโ€™s not just savings on supplies and things โ€ฆ thatโ€™s people,โ€ Dr. Bragen said.

When originally asking for $6.1 million, these were some of the things the division was hoping to fund:

  • 5% salary increase for all employees,
  • 4 new full-time athletic trainers,
  • 2 additional school counselors/mental health professionals,
  • 4 full-time custodians.

One of Dr. Bragenโ€™s concerns is people working with the county who are non-school employees are getting a 7% salary raise with the new budget. Bragen says he still hopes to give his staff the raises they deserve but still says itโ€™s unfair.

โ€œHow am I going to look our teachers in the face and say well if you work for the county government side youโ€™re getting 7% but if you work for the school board we can only give you 5%. I donโ€™t think thatโ€™s fair,โ€ Dr. Bragen said.

Dr. Bragen is not alone in this fight. School Board member, Linwood Hudson, said the county continues to grow. More and more students continue to join the Montgomery County School family.

โ€œEvery year thereโ€™s the largest class size that the school has ever seen coming inโ€ฆconstant growth, constant growth. Our budget needs to reflect that growth and so Iโ€™m definitely disappointed,โ€ Hudson said.

Itโ€™s still undetermined what will change in now the revised school budget. Bragen said he understands why people want lower taxes but itโ€™s hard to improve when the funding isnโ€™t there to back it up.

โ€œYou canโ€™t not fund it and think things are still going to go well,โ€ Bragen said. โ€œAt best you may be able to maintain the status quo but youโ€™ll never be able to grow. I want us to be the number one district in Virginia.โ€