The union leader for public school teachers in Montgomery County, Maryland,  said it is now “unlikely that there will be layoffs” for teachers, but class size increases remain a probable outcome. Montgomery County Education Association President Jennifer Martin made that statement to union members in a video posted to X on Thursday. “This is a huge step forward. And it’s because of our collective power and the pressure we have put on MCPS,” Martin said. “There’s still no commitment to prevent furloughs to honor open contracts, or to put every teacher in a placement that doesn’t disrupt their lives and the lives of their family.”

Urgent MCPS budget and action update from MCEA President Jennifer Martin! pic.twitter.com/E0xkUrwqEx

— Montgomery County Education Association (@mceanea) June 7, 2024

Martin’s social media message comes as the school system is seeing an operating budget shortfall of around $30 million. That’s according to an email sent to Montgomery County Public School families earlier this week, which also notified them that class sizes for all grades would increase by one student next school year. “We need our county leaders to cough up $10 million more to prevent overcrowded classrooms and crashing workloads,” Martin said. When asked about Martin’s video message, a Montgomery County Public Schools spokesperson said more information would be coming early next week. The Board of Education is expected to take final action on the reduced operating budget by Monday, June 11.