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Board of Education

Public Participation

Ways to View and Listen to Meetings

Ways to Participate

Public Hearings 

Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget -- Notice of Additional Public Hearing

NEW – HEARING NOTICE - Public testimony for the Board of Education’s Recommended FY 2025 Operating Budget.

The Montgomery County Board of Education previously held public hearings to hear testimony regarding the FY 2025 Operating Budget on Thursday, January 18, 2024, and on Thursday, January 25, 2024, at 6:00 p.m.

The Montgomery County Board of Education will hold an additional public hearing regarding modification to or elimination of three programs in the FY 2025 Operating Budget on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. Items being considered for modification/elimination include the Montgomery Virtual Academy, Leader In Me programming and the Innovative School Year Calendar initiative. The hearing will be held in-person and will be open to the public.  The Board also will accept pre-recorded audio and video testimony submissions. All testimonies will be made available to the public on BoardDocs. Individuals who wish to provide public comments  must register using the online registration form.

General Information:

Testimony registration for the February 20, 2024, hearing will open on  Tuesday, February 13, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. CLICK HERE to register. Individuals registering may reserve only one space. Registration will close on Thursday, February 15, 2024, at 9:00 a.m.

The following time limits for testimony apply to public hearings, unless otherwise specified by the Board in the hearing notice:

Organizations*/Municipalities/Elected Officials: 5 minutes

*Organizations may include: Montgomery County Regional Student Government Association/Montgomery County Junior Councils, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Parents Council, community organizations, MCCPTA, clusters, and the employee associations. This includes individuals who are providing collective advocacy or a position on behalf of an organization (but not members of organizations who are speaking in their individual capacity).

A speaker who signs up to testify, other than a cluster coordinator or area vice president, may reserve only one space. Only one speaker will be registered for any organization, unless the Board provides otherwise.

Elected officials are given the courtesy of being placed on the agenda at the time of their choice.

Individuals: 3 minutes

Individuals and organizations may not cede time to others who have not been guaranteed a speaking slot.

Submission of Testimony and Deadlines:

If you are selected for one of the speaking slots, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for testimony submission. Please adhere to the submission deadline and instructions which will be included in your confirmation email. Please send your testimony to BOETestimony@mcpsmd.org. Testimonies that do not adhere to submission instructions will be returned and may potentially lose the speaking slot.

The agenda with the list of speakers will be posted no later than noon on the day of the hearing at http://uqaey8.dektinary.com/boe/meetings/.

 

 Hearings, Work Session, and Board Action:

 The schedule for Board of Education review, public hearings, and action on the Operating Budget is as follows:

Thursday, December 14, 2023, 6:00 p.m. – Superintendent of schools released the recommended FY 2025 Operating Budget

Tuesday, January 16, 2024, 10:00 a.m. – Operating Budget Work Session

Thursday, January 18, 2024, 6:00 p.m. – Operating Budget Hearing

Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 10:00 a.m. – Operating Budget Work Session

Thursday, January 25, 2024, 6:00 p.m. – Operating Budget Hearing

Upcoming:

Tuesday, February 20, 2024, 6:00 p.m. – Operating Budget Hearing

Thursday, February 22, 2024, 3:30 p.m. – Board Business Meeting – Tentative Adoption of Recommended Operating Budget

Collective Advocacy

Those who wish to express their collective advocacy for a particular viewpoint be reminded that in-person attendance will be limited to speakers and a limited number of audience observers.  Therefore, please consider having a spokesperson sign up to provide testimony on behalf of your group. 

Testimony Subject Matter

Generally, public testimony should speak to the Operating Budget issues that are before the Board for action. This is not the proper avenue to address specific student or employee matters, especially those matters on appeal to the Board. Comments about the actions or statements of individual staff members are not appropriate for Public Comments and should be referred to the interim superintendent of schools or processed through available channels.

 Broadcasts of Public Hearings and Interpreter Services

 All hearings are available to view live (and will be available after the hearings on demand) on the MCPS webpage:

http://uqaey8.dektinary.com/index.aspx  

Hearings also will be broadcast live on Comcast Channel 34 , Verizon FIOS Channel 36, RCN Channel 89, MCPS home page http://dektinary.com,  MCPS YouTube Channel http://youtube.com/mcpstv.

TV Channels: Comcast 33, Verizon 35, and RCN 88

Additional information about public hearings may be found in the Board of Education Handbook. 

Public Comments at Board Meetings

The Board of Education designates time, during regular board business meetings, for public comments.  The Board is interested in hearing a broad range of perspectives from the community during this time.  The process for signing up and providing public testimony is outlined below.  If you have questions regarding this process, please submit them to  BOETestimony@mcpsmd.org.

 A.    Sign-Up Instructions – Regular Board Business Meeting Public Comment

Individuals may sign-up to provide public comment at the next Board of Education business meeting HERE. The sign-up period typically opens to the public one week before the business meeting at 6:00 p.m., unless notified otherwise.  

The meeting will be open to the public and in-person public comments will be permitted. The Board also will continue to accept pre-recorded audio and video submissions for individuals who wish to remain virtual. All testimonies will be made available to the public on BoardDocs. Individuals who wish to provide public comments will register using the online registration form and will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis.   

In addition to the online sign-ups, the Board will return to the practice of in person, same day sign-ups when space allows. Unallocated slots may be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, on the day of the meeting.

In order to sign-up in person, please arrive at least 15-20 minutes before the start of the open session and sign the form. In person sign-ups will close 15 minutes before public comment begins or when all slots are filled. 

 Safety Procedures for In-Person Observation and Public Comments     

  • Please avoid in-person attendance if you have symptoms of illness.

  • Congregating in the hallways and doorways will be prohibited.

  • Signs larger than an 8.5” x 11” will be prohibited.

B.     Sign-Up Confirmations  

Up to 20 speakers, will be accepted to provide public comments.  These speakers will be accepted as follows:

     1) Agenda - The first ten (10) individual speakers who sign up to speak to an agenda item will be accepted to provide testimony. 

     2) Non-Agenda - The first five (5) individual speakers who sign up to speak to a non-agenda item, will be accepted to provide comments.

     3) Associations/Organizations – Five (5) speaking slots are reserved for associations and organizations and may be used to speak to an agenda item. Upon registration, three of these slots will be reserved for the following associations: Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals/Montgomery County Business and Operations Administrators (MCAAP/MCBOA); 2) Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA); and 3) Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 500. Please note: If associations do not register, slots may be offered to other individuals/organizations who signed up to testify. The other two reserved slots are for any community or school organizations or associations and will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

     4) Exceptions - The Board reserves the right to limit the number of speakers and/or similar perspectives on a particular agenda topic.  When the Board receives more requests than the allotted number of testimony slots available, registrations from individuals who have testified at a regular board business meeting within the last 30 calendar days may be declined, so that others may have an opportunity to testify.  

In the event that the slots reserved for associations/organizations are not filled, those speaking slots will be offered to those individuals who have signed up to speak on an agenda topic on a first-come, first-served basis.   

   C.    Public Comment Format & Content

Each individual speaker, association and organization will receive two (2) minutes to provide testimony. 

Once the slots for public comment are filled, speakers will receive a confirmation email with instructions about how to prepare video/audio comments for submission. Please adhere to the submission deadline and instructions which will be included in the confirmation email. All written, video and audio, comments for the meeting should be submitted to BOETestimony@mcpsmd.org.    

This is not the proper avenue to address specific student or employee matters, especially those matters on appeal to the Board. Comments about the actions or statements of individual staff members are not appropriate for Public Comment and should be referred to the Superintendent of Schools or processed through available channels. 

Those who are not able to sign up or not selected to provide comments during the meeting, may email comments to BOE@mcpsmd.org. Emails sent to this address are automatically distributed to all Board members and leadership staff.   

Additional information about public comments may be found in the Board of Education Handbook.