Every year, Forbes ranks America’s top 500 employers. This year, Montgomery County Public Schools was ranked at number 45 on that list. According to Forbes, “Montgomery County Public Schools is the largest school system in Maryland and the 17th largest in the U.S., with an enrollment of 156,000 students in 202 schools. Those students come from 157 countries and speak 138 languages. The system has an annual budget of $2.39 billion. Montgomery County, north of Washington, D.C., includes the cities of Rockville, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, and Silver Spring.”

Forbes also ranked MCPS at number 151 for the Best Employers for Diversity. “Forbes has a lot of clout when it comes to ranking things, so I think they are probably accurate,” teacher Michael Tomasulo said.

Due to all of the big businesses and companies that exist in this country, it may come as a shock that Montgomery County Public Schools is ranked so high. “45! Wow! That really surprises me that out of all the employers across all industries in America that MCPS is ranked that high,” science teacher David Bitler said.

One possible reason that MCPS is ranked so high by Forbes might possibly be due to benefits it provides for its employees. “I don’t think you necessarily notice the bigger, larger employer that is MCPS itself, and I don’t think the ranking means that much, but the system does an appropriate job giving benefits to their employees. The biggest benefit that I am aware of and pretty happy with are the healthcare benefits that they supply for us. The deals that they have with the healthcare system make healthcare pretty accessible, especially during this time where access to healthcare can be such a large hurdle for some people,” Bitler said.

MCPS also provides their employees other benefits such as dental, vision, hearing and retirement benefits. “As an employee, I get a full dental plan as well a great retirement benefits. These are not really unique to MCPS though, but on a national scale they are really good benefits,” Tomasulo said.

Being employed by such a prestigious employer is a big deal. Most of the teachers who are a part of MCPS take pride in their work and love what they do. “I really do take pride in being a part of a system such as MCPS. Their main goal is trying to make it a better place for students to learn, and that in turn will help teachers,” Bitler said. “By extension, it puts the expectation of having high quality of instruction, which means they need teachers with a high quality of expertise in their field, and it feels great to be a part of that.”