Heather Curtis and John Matthews
WMAL.com

ROCKVILLE — (WMAL) Record high increases in school enrollment have the Montgomery County Council considering cutting benefits for employees to increase the amount of money available for instruction and programming.

This school year there are nearly 3000 more students than in 2015-16. A report by the county’s Office of Legislative Oversight found compensation, including health care and pensions, is taking up bigger pieces of the school system’s budget each year. Thursday, the council’s Education Committee will discuss different ways to save money on benefits.

One option is to shift more of the cost burden for health insurance premiums to employees. The school system pays an average of 85 percent of each employee’s total health insurance premium, compared to non-school employees, who have about 80 percent of their premiums covered by the county.

Another revenue drain being considered is to change or eliminate supplemental pension benefits for teachers. Montgomery County’s school system is the only one in the state that offers supplemental pension benefits. County staffers found the school system could save up to $10 million dollars if it got rid of supplemental benefits or made employees pay more for them.

The county council has already raised taxes to counter a school enrollment growth of nearly 20,000 students over the past decade. Councilmembers will now consider whether cutting costs is the better way to go to meet the growing needs of the school system.

“MCPS compensation costs, including benefits, are consuming an increasing portion of available resources and challenging the ability to increase funding for instructional, programmatic purposes.,” says an Office of Legislative Oversight report.

Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Montgomery Co. government)