Dear Friends,
The County Council cast their “straw” votes yesterday on the FY26 operating budget, and their final vote is next Thursday, May 22. I am pleased that we have come together to fund 99.8% of the request from the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), which will support higher salaries, more special education teachers and paraeducators, and additional security staff.
The agreement will provide $260 million in additional funding for MCPS in Fiscal Year (FY) 26, contributing to a record-high total school budget of $3.58 billion. The Council made a decision to provide the funding by not making a contribution to the MCPS portion of the OPEB trust (the fund set aside for retiree health benefits) for FY25 and FY26. I had proposed a similar approach last year (it was not accepted then), and their action this year was central to being able to provide the urgently needed funding for the schools. Chief Administrative Officer Rich Madaleno explains more here.
While the funding is only a one-year solution, it does provide the funding now and allows us time to agree on long-term solutions. I do believe that a 0.1% increase in the income tax would have put us on a good path, but the Council declined to take this step. (I wrote about it in last week’s newsletter; you can read it here.) I look forward to working together with the Council, the Board of Education, MCPS leadership and labor partners to identify stable, recurring funding sources.
Even amidst this time of great uncertainty—with federal budget cuts already leading to job losses in our community and threatening key grants for County government and MCPS—we were able to make real progress in key areas, including economic development and affordable housing. You can read more about it here.
Thank you to everyone who spoke up during the public hearing sessions on this budget. Despite the challenges, we have preserved core services and met 99.8% of the MCPS request, which is a major accomplishment in a difficult budget year.
I think it’s important to put a face on why the additional funding for the schools is so important. This week, Stephanie Gawlinski, an MCPS special education teacher at Sherwood High School and MCEA member, spoke during the County’s weekly media briefing about how encouraging it is to see this level of commitment to special education services. (You won’t see me on the briefing because I have been out sick this week – thank you to Rich Madaleno, the County’s Chief Administrative Officer, for filling in for me.)
Ms. Gawlinski offered a glimpse of how difficult the work is, even with adequate staffing, which many classrooms do not have. She talked about how the staff shortages have led some special education teachers to leave mid-year, which she explained is huge for a teacher to leave their students mid-year. And she talked about how difficult hiring special education staff is when the system can’t guarantee adequate staff.
The needs of special education students vary widely in our district. Some students cannot communicate verbally, while others need staff to feed and change them. As Ms. Gawlinski detailed, a fully staffed classroom is small with one teacher and two paraeducators, but not all classrooms are fully staffed. When special education classrooms are understaffed, the only thing that teachers have the capacity to do is keep their students, staff and themselves safe. Teachers identify the highest level of need and address that first. Education is put on the back burner, which is not how we best serve our students.
I agree with her when she said special educators and students should not have to fight every single year to get the resources that they need. We need to continue to invest in our schools and our students.
I appreciate the MCPS leadership for prioritizing issues like this that cause so much grief and strain. It is what these students and their families deserve.
Annual Point in Time Survey of Individuals Experiencing Homelessness
Unfortunately, Montgomery County saw a 32% increase in the total number of individuals experiencing homelessness, including a troubling 80% increase in the number of families in need of a stable place to live.
You can download the latest results and analysis here. A County press release reacting to that report can be found here. For more information on County services, visit montgomerycountymd.gov/homelessness.
Many factors have contributed to these figures. We have seen the number of evictions rise since pandemic-era moratoriums were lifted. High rent prices across Montgomery County are also a factor. We have also seen the end of the COVID-era Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program funds.
We offer many families rental assistance when they can’t pay, but too many of those families are coming to us with increasing debts. The average family that needs help owes their landlord between $6,000 and $12,000. That has helped drive our homeless numbers above what we saw before the pandemic, and at 1,510, it surpasses our previous high over the last decade, which was set last year.
We know that Montgomery County needs more affordable housing, and this year’s data is a stark illustration of the situation. Sadly, there are too many families in our community who struggle daily to maintain a roof over their heads, and the increasing cost of necessities makes stable, affordable housing unattainable for them. Rent stabilization institutes predictability for many renters, but some of our most vulnerable residents need more help. This year, we launched the Short-Term Housing and Resolution Program for families and have been working intensively with this critical program.
The Short-term Housing and Resolution Program (SHaRP) is a County-funded program that successfully housed many people during the pandemic when it was piloted. It provides a security deposit, the first month’s rent and a rental subsidy for 12 months to allow sheltered or unsheltered households to move into housing. Navigators are available to provide resource connections and monthly check-ins to support households in maintaining their housing. Since its inception in late 2020, SHaRP has assisted over 700 households to move into their own permanent housing with only a 22% overall return rate. The County provided a special appropriation for SHaRP in December 2024 to help the increasing number of families in the shelter system move into housing. As of the beginning of May, 111 families have moved into housing using this funding. The FY26 operating budget includes an additional $62 million in funding for the County Department of Health and Human Services’ Services to End and Prevent Homelessness division and we hope to continue our progress.
We continue our work, helping more families find shelter and providing the support needed to make homelessness a rare, brief and non-recurring situation.
I want to thank our community partners and volunteers who play a role in ensuring that we treat housing as a human right. Montgomery County will continue to help coordinate immediate access to housing without preconditions or barriers because it is the right thing to do.
Sgt. Patrick Kepp Act Signing
This week marked an important milestone with the signing of the Sgt. Patrick Kepp Act by Maryland Governor Wes Moore, which will strengthen public safety on our roads across the State.
Holding reckless drivers accountable is long overdue. It is sad that it took a tragic incident like the devastating injuries to Montgomery County Police Sgt. Kepp to prompt this legislation. As a reminder, he lost both legs after being hit by a speeding driver he was trying to stop; he was out of his vehicle, deploying stop sticks, when he was hit. This new law will provide real consequences for people who ignore the rules of the road by speeding excessively and putting other drivers in danger.
I want to thank the work of our general assembly delegation—specifically Sen. Nancy King and Del. Gregory Wims—for their work to make our communities safer. Both were there for Tuesday’s bill signing. To hear what the governor said about the man who inspired this law, follow this link.
This law (SB 590/HB 744) is a testament to the integrity and honor displayed by Sgt. Kepp. He is a hero and a role model to many in our community and across our country. He has bravely overcome his traumatic injuries to return to the police work he so clearly loves. We are fortunate that he is alive today and already back on duty.
Grand Opening of Powersolv’s New Montgomery County Headquarters
This week we welcomed another company—Powersolv —as it moved to Montgomery County. Powersolv is a 30-year old company that has successfully managed and assisted in IT projects for the state and for our County. They worked with a site selection consultant who demonstrated the benefits of moving to Montgomery County, and we’re glad to have them here. They were able to access our MOVE Grants, which are designed to help spur economic development by encouraging businesses to move to the County.
Powersolv is one more example of our commitment to welcoming new businesses here. We spent a record-breaking $248 million last year on procurements through the Minority, Female and Disabled-Owned Business Program. We have opened up opportunities for more small and emergent companies to do business with Montgomery County.
Moves like this are exactly what we envisioned when we developed the MOVE Grant Program through our Business Center. Updates to the program that took effect last year help businesses that are signing their first commercial lease or expanding their existing lease by at least 500 square feet in office space in Montgomery County. Once the company passes one final review in the grant process, it is eligible to receive around $9,000 in relocation money.
All MOVE grant awards are funded on a first-come, first-served basis based on the date of receipt of all required documentation and subject to funding availability. The funding is based on the square footage of leased space.
I want to congratulate Rahul Dhawan, Powersolv president, and his team on this exciting new chapter. We value his commitment to delivering top-tier technology services to customers, and we’re proud to support the company’s continued growth here. I agree with his assessment that this move will help him grow his business by putting him closer to top talent and local partnerships in one of the most vibrant tech corridors in our region.
Monsanto Settlement Update
This week, Montgomery County received an additional $968,612—nearly $1 million—as part of a national class action settlement against Monsanto, bringing our total recovery in this case to over $5.2 million. These funds are unrestricted, and we will work with our team to use them where they are needed most.
This settlement is part of a larger national effort. Dozens of local governments—including cities, counties and school systems—joined together to hold Monsanto accountable for widespread PCB contamination. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were banned decades ago because of their toxicity, but they still show up in our stormwater, our rivers and streams, and the environment. Local governments are left with the cleanup, and this settlement is one step toward making the polluters pay for the damage they caused.
I want to thank County Attorney John Markovs and our Office of the County Attorney for their excellent work. This lawsuit, like so many others we’ve brought, is part of a broader shift in how we approach legal advocacy on behalf of our residents.
This strategy helped us win major settlements in the opioid crisis, not just against drugmakers but also against companies like McKinsey & Company, which helped those companies flood the market with dangerous and addictive drugs. We are still in court right now with 3M over PFAS chemicals, and with social media companies for the harm they’re causing to young people.
When corporations put profit ahead of public health and safety, we’re not going to sit on the sidelines.
Cases like this do not come out of nowhere. They rely on science, on environmental monitoring and on decades of regulatory work that tells us what’s in our water and what’s making people sick.
What we’re seeing right now from the federal government—these sweeping cuts and attacks on federal science agencies—this isn’t about “efficiency.” It’s about tearing down the very systems that uncover wrongdoing and hold bad actors accountable. If that continues, it’s only going to get harder for communities like ours to protect public health and make polluters pay. And that should concern everyone.
Honoring Lynching Victims
This week, the community gathered outside the County Council Office Building to remember two victims of racial terror in Montgomery County: Sidney Randolph and John Diggs-Dorsey. Historical markers were placed there in 2023, but we recently added a bench and some landscaping.
Dr. Bobbie Legg, a Montgomery County native and descendant of one of the perpetrators in the 1896 lynching of Sidney Randolph, joined the event. Dr. Legg’s decision to share her story publicly has been powerful and courageous. Her testimony last fall to the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission moved many, and that’s why we invited her to be a part of this ceremony. This remembrance and reconciliation effort reflects our commitment to racial equity and social justice. Unlike what we are seeing from the federal government and Republican-led states, we are not going to whitewash history. With the help of our Office of Human Rights and Commission on Remembrance and Reconciliation, we are going to teach and tell the truth—even when it’s uncomfortable.
We are proud to keep diversity, equity and inclusion at the center of our work. That includes confronting the legacy of redlining, racial violence and systemic racism that existed right here in Montgomery County. These historical markers—and this ceremony—are part of how we move forward, together, with honesty and purpose.
As always, my appreciation for all of you,
Marc Elrich
County Executive
