Changes to Montgomery County’s Annual Operating Budget for the 2025 fiscal year have caused a loss of 17 periods and dramatic increases in class sizes in every department across this school.
The MCPS Board of Education received an annual operating budget of $3.32 billion for the 2025 fiscal year, which is $31 million less than they requested from the county council. One significant change to the budget has been staffing. According to a memorandum titled “Final Adoption of the Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget” from Monique T. Felder, Interim Superintendent, “The FY 2025 Operating Budget appropriation requires [the board of education] to implement an increase in class size guidelines of one student at each grade level across the district. This will reduce the budget by 122.7 [full-time employee] positions and $10,114,721. We expect to be able to absorb a number of these reductions through retirements and other vacancies.”
Even though the memorandum did not mention teacher layoffs, the county-level budget cuts did impact this school’s staffing. “Because of how our staffing is provided, in intervals of 0.2, it doesn’t always evenly equate to a certain number of people. What I can say is that with our cuts, we lost about five staff members,” Assistant Principal Stephanie Labbe said.
Labbe does master scheduling for this school, working with Principal Douglas Nelson to decide what classes to offer and how to allocate the staffing the county provides. “Ultimately, our goal is to provide what the students want to take. If this is what you want to take, we will do what we can to accommodate that. Even sometimes when our hands are tied,” Labbe said.
In addition to staff members, 17 class periods were lost across the school. As a result, class sizes across every subject have increased. “Currently our PE classes are at a capacity of 40, we have some math classes at 34-35, English classes are 30-31 and science and social studies anywhere from 32-34,” Resource Counselor Elizabeth Robinson said.
Due to these cuts, students such as senior Anna Lizondo have been unable to take classes they originally signed up for during registration in December and January last year. “Originally, back in January, I had talked to my counselor and we signed up for AP Spanish Lit. I was just a little annoyed because I wish they had figured it out a bit earlier because it was almost summer, around May, when I found out [it was cut],” Lizondo said.
However, official news of staffing modifications did not arrive until April or May, months after students registered for classes. “We always get our staffing in February, but the budget hadn’t been settled at that time. I will say that we had been hearing about the budget and MCPS, but again, when you’re looking at what the cuts actually mean for students, it’s always going to be a surprise,” Labbe said.
A common misconception is that if not enough students sign up for a course it gets cut, but there’s more that goes into the decision to cut courses. “There are conversations that happen, in relation to classes that are possibly offering additional support to kids or classes that might be the only AP class that is a part of that content area…with Mr. Nelson as the principal and with the RT, the head of whatever department we are looking at for changes,” Labbe said.
Robinson said the goal is for the smallest class size at this school to be around 25-27 students. However, AP Music Theory is still offered despite its low enrollment of only 13 students. “When it comes to the music content, it’s the only AP class that a student can take. We want to make sure that when we’re making cuts, we’re not destroying our programming. If we cut it, then we’re cutting out student opportunities to gain college credit and upper-level classes, which so many students have worked for,” Labbe said.
AP Music Theory teacher Carolyn Herman said she is grateful that the class is still offered. “There are many students looking to major in music in college. It’s very helpful, well it’s essential, for these students to have a music theory class,” Herman said.
Lizondo, who took AP Music Theory last year as a junior, further highlighted the importance of the class. “I feel like a lot of times Wootton emphasizes just STEM or humanities, but they don’t emphasize the stuff in between, which are other things like the arts and music. And for me, as a violinist and co-president of chamber choir, music plays a big role in my life. Being able to take a music theory class in school and not having to pay for it outside of school is so amazing because I’m using that credit for college and I got to do something I love every day in school with a teacher who’s so passionate about it. If there are kids interested in it, it should be a class,” Lizondo said.
To avoid cutting classes completely, Labbe looks to see if it can be combined to continue providing students with the opportunity to take the courses they want. “Cutting a class is literally the last thing we do. We have a number of upper-level world language classes that are five and seven in the same period. However, you then end up putting staff in a position and also students in a position where their attention is being split,” Labbe said.
Upper-level Spanish was one subject area affected by budget cuts. The school no longer offers AP Spanish Literature and has now combined Spanish 7 and Spanish 5, something Lizondo fought for, to allow students who want to continue their Spanish education beyond AP Spanish Language the opportunity to do so. “I had asked [my counselor] if there was any other alternative [to AP Spanish Literature] and she said no. To me, that was very upsetting. Having the ability to learn a language is probably one of the most important parts of my life and school to me. So, [senior] Sebastian Thomas and I went to the head of the Spanish department, Dr. James Fetterman. We asked and he and Senora Morejon, another Spanish teacher, agreed that we would create a combined Spanish 5/7 class,” Lizondo said.
Lizondo, who took AP Spanish Language last year and originally registered for AP Spanish Literature, explains her experience in Spanish 7. “I like it in that it’s more conversational because we, the Spanish 7 kids, there’s five of us, are encouraged to help the Spanish 5 kids who are at a lower level of Spanish in general, which is nice. But also sometimes it feels like the content should be a little more advanced. However, it is a good refresher since we’re going back through some of the basics. Either way, we’re being exposed to another language, which is the most important at the end of the day,” Lizondo said.
Overall, students such as Lizondo were disappointed in the scheduling at this school. “It’s the lack of flexibility to push for certain classes with administration. When Sebastian and I went to the counselors about upper-level Spanish not being offered at all once Lit was cut, they said they couldn’t do anything, but when we went to the head of the department, we made it happen. While it can be frustrating, at least I have a voice as a student to make a difference,” Lizondo said.
Even though she receives backlash over her decisions, Labbe acknowledges the difficult position she is put in as the school’s master scheduler. “When you have to make these cuts, you’re affecting staff members’ lives and you’re affecting students’ lives; there’s a trickling effect that goes out to the entire community. It’s tough,” Labbe said.
