Montgomery County Council approves $6.7 billion budget, 4.7% property tax increase

The Montgomery County Council approved a $6.7 billion budget for the fiscal year of 2024 yesterday, including a 4.7% property tax increase. That tax hike joins a 7% increase in water bills, and a massive recordation tax increase, cementing Montgomery County's status as having the highest total tax burden in the region. Despite clouds on the national and international financial horizons, the budget represents significant spending increases using one-time funding sources that won't be there in future years. While some have suggested this will "create" a structural budget deficit, the reality is that Montgomery County has had a structural budget deficit for many years. The Council has just made it worse.

Montgomery County Public Schools received an 8.5% spending increase in the budget. Under Maryland's maintenance-of-effort law, Montgomery County cannot reduce the amount of spending on MCPS next year, so we are now on the hook for at least that amount in FY-2025 without the means to pay for it. That will require either spending cuts or raising taxes next year. The MCPS funding boost is shoveling good money after bad, given that student performance seems to decline in proportion to the constant and mindless increase in funding for the school system. Something is seriously wrong at MCPS, but there is zero accountability or oversight by the Council.

The FY-2024 budget could best be described as the "deception budget." The Council violated Maryland's sunshine laws, casting votes on various line items in the budget secretly, outside of public Council sessions. This was noted by Councilmember Kristin Mink (D - District 5), who also took some of her colleagues to task last December, when decisions about Council and committee leadership were made behind closed doors. County Executive Marc Elrich (D) expanded on Mink's criticism of the shadow budget process in his remarks on the budget's passage yesterday.

County Council President Evan Glass, who directed the budget process from start to finish, made it clear he did not share Mink and Elrich's view. But his Trumpian "most transparent budget process ever!" declaration was only missing the Sean Spicer "Period." It was clear that the budget process was designed to avoid painful roll call votes that highlight councilmembers' positions on controversial, difficult or unpopular issues. Such as councilmembers who had promised to restore the Office of the People's Counsel opposing funding for the OPC in this budget!

Montgomery County continues to have a tax problem. It continues to have a spending problem. Its leaders can't seem to solve either one. They only know how to increase both.

Even as the tax burden increases on residents, the County is missing out on commercial and business tax revenue it could be raking in. If only it paid the same attention to attracting major corporate headquarters to the County, as it does to boosting government salaries and profits for the Council's developer sugar daddies.

In fact, after having once again raised taxes on residents, Glass will lead a Council effort to deliver another massive tax cut for developers. On June 13, the Council will hold a hearing on an expedited Bill 25-23, which will reduce impact taxes on developers. The move continues the disturbing and immoral pattern of the Council shifting the tax burden for its out-of-control spending from developers to residents.

It's no surprise we don't have money to expand or replace overcrowded and aging schools, when we keep cutting taxes on the developers who are filling them up with new students. Likewise, the laser focus on residential development expands the structural deficit, because the new costs generated by residential development exceed the amount of property tax revenue it generates. But the Council will continue to feign surprise that we are once again in the red next spring.

Montgomery County hasn't attracted a major corporate headquarters in over 25 years. It has lost some in the interim. Most are choosing Northern Virginia, whose jurisdictions were able to increase spending in their FY-2024 budgets without raising property tax rates - and in some cases, cutting taxes. Gee, I wonder why?

While there can often be hyperbolic discussion about "cutting waste" in budgets, the fact is that there is a lot of waste in the County budget. Nobody wants to look for it. Exhibit A, is the infamous $22,000 security camera system for the County's Supervised Visitation Center. Such a 4-camera surveillance system, with installation, would have available for about $1000 at the time the Council shelled out $22,000 of your money for it. 

Such bloated expenditures going to well-connected businesses, contractors and non-profits who donate to councilmembers are a major source of fat in the County budget each year. If we have determined that County government should provide A, B or C to the public, streamline the operations and have the County provide them directly. Instead, we are making costly appropriations for a thousand individual organizations because this Councilmember's campaign donor, or that County official's wife, is on the board of such-and-such charity. Needless to say, this practice must be investigated, audited and eliminated.

The bottom line is that taxes will continue to increase until you, the taxpayer, make it politically painful for the people who are raising them. This hasn't happened yet. There was no taxpayer revolt. The only interruption of a Council session was by MCPS employees. They shut it down. Guess who got money in this budget.

Politicians generally aren't smarter than you. They're just more clever and devious, that's all. Like rodents in a laboratory maze, they quickly learn to favor the rooms with a piece of cheese over the ones where they receive an electric shock. Whether it's beating the Columbia Country Club with the Purple Line, or picking your pocket with another tax increase, the Council has yet to pay a price at the ballot box. It will continue to plunder until it does.

MCPS art show at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda (Photos)

Artwork by Montgomery County Public Schools elementary school students was displayed at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. The annual All-County Art Show is designed to show the results of visual arts studies by MCPS students. Here is a sample of works that were on display:

Rockville elementary school students sickened by methamphetamine "candy"

Rockville City and Montgomery County police detectives were called to College Gardens Elementary School at 1700 Yale Place in Rockville yesterday, after three students fell ill after sampling what they said they thought was candy. Inital toxicology reports on the 7-year-old children suggest the blue "candy" may have instead been methamphetamine-related drugs, such as Adderall or Molly. All three students have been discharged from the hospital. It appears the students were wise enough to spit out the items before swallowing them, minimizing their ingestion of whatever the controlled substance was.

"I am relieved that the students will ultimately be fine, but in many ways, what happened today is frightening,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said in a statement.  “I hope that it serves as a powerful motivator for parents to keep having the difficult conversations with their children about the dangers of taking or eating unknown substances." Detectives are continuing to investigate the source of the controlled substance the students said they found.

Montgomery County property tax hike proposed in County Executive's $6.8 billion FY-2024 budget

Montgomery County elected officials have raised property taxes on homeowners every year since 2010, except for FY-2015, when a 2014 election-year tax cut delivered a whopping average $12 savings to tax-whipped residents (gee, thanks!). It looks like they are going to do it again for FY-2024, as County Executive Marc Elrich (D) released his proposed budget yesterday, and he suggested the largest property tax hike since FY-2017. The extra payday would go exclusively to Montgomery County Public Schools, whose student performance has only declined as bigger and bigger budgets have been approved for it by the County Council. Money has never been the problem at MCPS, only incompetent leadership since the exit of Superintendent Jerry Weast, a clearly-failed curriculum, and an increasingly-stark lack of student safety and security.

There's an even greater problem about the record $3.2 billion outlay for MCPS in Elrich's budget. Due to the disastrous Maintenance of Effort law, the amount spent on MCPS can never go down from one year to the next. So, even as Elrich himself declares "a mild recession could take place later this year," his budget would lock in a required expenditure of at least $3.2 billion for MCPS in the FY-2025 budget - even if a recession deals a severe blow to County revenue. And we're not even talking about the worrisome situation in the banking sector, which is persisting despite a federal bailout of wealthy billionaires at Silicon Valley Bank earlier this week.

What that would mean, is that savings and cuts would have to be found elsewhere in the budget: police, fire, libraries, road maintenance, etc. And the County Council is already cruising toward a rude fiscal awakening, as it has convinced itself, the local media, and enough voters that its rosy budgets of the last few pandemic years were due to councilmembers' overwhelming talent and skill, and not the overwhelming federal cash that poured into the County to cover COVID-19 losses. That money is now being cut off by Uncle Sam.

You wouldn't know it from reviewing the proposed budget. And from a steep tax hike being proposed, you wouldn't know that a majority of County residents are being hit hard by persistent inflation. Not to mention that, for many County residents - particularly the elderly and others on fixed incomes - the current property tax has become the equivalent of a second mortgage they must pay off on their home.

There are other fanciful ideas in the budget announcement, such as the recent canard pushed by the County political cartel that Montgomery County residents are somehow paying less property taxes than some other jurisdictions. This is false, because the assessments on houses are so much higher in Montgomery County than in those jurisdictions that MoCo residents actually pay more. In reality, Montgomery County has the highest real property tax payments, and the highest total tax and fee burden in the Washington, D.C. region. We pay massive income and piggyback income taxes, real estate transfer taxes, energy taxes, cell phone taxes, rain taxes, and more - many of these being taxes that don't even exist in counties around us. 

Our current tax structure and burden are two of the major reasons for our moribund County economy. Montgomery County's economic growth and strength have been at or near rock bottom in the region for more than a decade, as measured by every relevant federal indicator. No major corporation has relocated its headquarters to Montgomery County in over a quarter century. 

Taxes have also been the major cause for the flight of the rich out of Montgomery County, which caused the County's "Rodeo Drive" of Friendship Heights to crash, leaving behind vacant buildings and empty storefronts. Significantly increasing taxes and spending, as we've done and as is being proposed again here, is a reckless move in this context, and total insanity when you factor in the County's massive debt.

One positive thing Elrich's budget proposes? Providing the funding to restore the Office of the People's Counsel, a lawyer who can represent the people in land use matters. This is long overdue, but we don't need a $6.8 billion budget or a property tax hike to make that happen.

Richard Montgomery High School student arrested in armed robbery of gas station in Gaithersburg

Rockville City police officers converged on Richard Montgomery High School Monday, and arrested a student in connection with the February 20, 2023 armed robbery of a Gaithersburg gas station. Jeffrey Gabriel Johnson, 18, of Rockville was taken into custody at the school without incident. Johnson has been charged with armed robbery, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault. He is being held at the County's Central Processing Unit.

Detectives allege that Johnson and an accomplice entered the convenience store at the Summit Shell gas station at 15 South Summit Avenue at 9:52 AM on February 20, which was a school holiday. One of the two - police have not said which one - pulled a knife from his waistband. He allegedly ran behind the counter, threatened the cashier with the knife, and demanded he open the cash register. 

The clerk opened the cash drawer, and the armed suspect grabbed an unspecified amount of cash. Both suspects then ran out of the store. The second suspect, also an African-American male, has not been publicly identified by police and remains at large. Given that the police statement does not ask for the public's help in finding him, it's likely detectives know who they are looking for.

Montgomery County Executive condemns weekend anti-Semitic incidents

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) strongly condemned a series of anti-Semitic incidents across the county this past weekend in a statement. Swastikas were found on desks in three public schools, and flyers targeting several Jewish families were distributed in Kensington. Elrich revealed that, unlike many of the other incidents in recent years, perpetrators of the desk graffiti were identified and have been disciplined by Montgomery County Public Schools. Police are investigating the flyer incident to determine if it qualifies as a hate crime, Elrich said.

Elrich said he is glad the school cases were resolved quickly, but that this "does not heal the pain that these schools are dealing with." He added that, rather than divide the community as intended, the incidents have only had the effect of "generating more support for our Jewish neighbors." 

"We are united and are showing those who are pedaling (sic) hate that these antisemitic attempts at community disruption won't be tolerated," Elrich said. "Montgomery County is home to one of the most diverse areas in the nation. We are proud of that diversity and antisemitic activities do not reflect our community values. It’s not the Montgomery way."

Rockville school burglarized

Rockville City police responded to a report of a burglary at a school last night, January 14, 2023. The burglary took place at a school in the 600 block of Great Falls Road at 8:33 PM Saturday. Julius West Middle School is on that block. 

Assault at Magruder High School in Derwood

An assault was reported at Colonel Zadok Magruder High School at 5939 Muncaster Mill Road in Derwood the morning of Wednesday, January 11, 2023. The assault was reported at 8:57 AM Wednesday. 

Assault at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville

Montgomery County police were called to Richard Montgomery High School Wednesday afternoon, December 21, 2022, to investigate a 2nd-degree assault reported on the campus. The assault was reported at 2:35 PM on Wednesday.

Car stolen from Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville

Rockville City police are investigating the theft of a vehicle from the parking lot of Richard Montgomery High School, located at 250 Richard Montgomery Drive, late Thursday afternoon, September 22, 2022. The vehicle was reported stolen at 5:00 PM Thursday.

Rockville HDC to review demolitions at Montgomery County jail

Rockville's Historic District Commission will review the proposed demolition of seven unutilized structures at the Montgomery County Detention Center campus at 1307 Seven Locks Road at its meeting this Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 7:00 PM. The Montgomery County Department of General Services is seeking the demolitions, to clear the way for a potential Montgomery County Public Schools school bus depot. 

No formal proposal for the bus depot has been submitted to the City as of yet. The HDC will consider the potential historic significance of the seven buildings. But under the mandatory referral process for government projects, the City can only advise changes; it cannot stop a County project from moving forward.

Maryland School Board votes to rescind statewide school mask mandate

The Maryland State Board of Education voted overwhelmingly yesterday to rescind its statewide mandate that required masks to be worn inside of public schools. However, the masks won't be coming off immediately in Montgomery County Public Schools. First, the Maryland General Assembly committee that originally approved the Board mandate must approve the decision to rescind it. Then the Montgomery County Board of Education will have the power to decide its own mask policy.

Photon via State of Maryland

MCPS drops 5% threshold for virtual learning

MCPS Interim Superintendent 
Monifa McKnight

Montgomery County Public Schools announced its latest coronavirus policy about-face this afternoon. After starting the spring semester with a 5% threshold for Covid-19 cases that would trigger a school to switch to virtual learning, eleven schools were forced to go online. But when more than 100 schools met the threshold days later, MCPS canceled a scheduled Thursday email update to parents. It then announced in the past hour that it is dropping the 5% threshold for virtual learning.

"Moving forward, MCPS and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will examine schools on a case-by-case basis to determine if any particular school needs to transition to virtual learning for a designated period of time," Interim Superintendent of Schools Monifa McKnight and Acting Chief Health Officer James Bridgers wrote in this afternoon's statement. "Factors considered will continue to include the number of students and staff who have tested positive; the number of students in quarantine; the number of staff absent for COVID-related reasons; and the level of spread of the virus in the school."

McKnight and Bridgers cited the fact that the state of Maryland does not call for a specific threshold to suspend in-class learning. Their statement did not explain why the threshold was adopted if not recommended by the state. It said the Thursday emails will resume next week. Take-home rapid test kits will also be distributed to all students and staff next week, the statement added. Students who test positive will have to isolate for 10 days from the date of the positive test.

Photo courtesy MCPS

11 Montgomery County Public Schools switching to virtual learning for 2 weeks

Montgomery County Public Schools are closed today, but students at eleven schools won't be returning to the classroom anytime soon. MCPS announced this morning that the following schools are switching to virtual learning for two weeks, due to student coronavirus case numbers:

Cannon Road ES

Forest Knolls ES

Hallie Wells MS

Monocacy ES

North Chevy Chase ES

Roberto Clemente MS

Rock Terrace School

Rosemont ES

Seneca Valley HS

Sherwood ES

Waters Landing ES 

Rockville "undercover billionaire" finds Camaro Z-28 he drove while student at Richard Montgomery High School

Billionaire Glenn Stearns is best known as TV's Undercover Billionaire, and as the founder of Stearns Lending. Lesser known are his Montgomery County days, when he attended Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. Stearns never forgot his 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z-28, but never expected to find it again after being forced to sell it later.

But, as he tells Hot Rod magazine, Stearns incredibly found the car while attending a Barrett-Jackson auto auction with football legend John Elway. The Glacier Blue Z "was a known fast car on the streets of Rockville, Maryland, and among fellow students at Richard Montgomery High School," Hot Rod reports.

Now Stearns is once again behind the wheel of the car that once cruised the streets of Rockville. Bidding by phone when he had to leave the auction early for business, the billionaire reclaimed his long lost car. As sports car aficionados know, it's hard to stay "undercover" for long driving a Camaro Z-28.

Democratic congressional candidate Maxwell Bero charged with sexual abuse of 14 y.o. MCPS student

A Democratic congressional candidate who currently works as a teacher at Watkins Mill High School was arrested by Montgomery County police yesterday, and charged with multiple sexual offenses involving a former student when he was employed at Col E. Brooke Lee Middle School in Silver Spring between 2014 and 2015. Maxwell Bero, 30, of Clarksburg ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for Congress in Maryland's 6th Congressional District earlier this year.

On Wednesday, Bero was charged with sexual abuse of a minor, and multiple counts of committing a third-degree sexual offense. His alleged victim was a 14-year-old girl at the time, and is now 19. The sexual interactions Bero is accused of took place on school property, police said. Bero also allegedly exchanged "inappropriate sexual materials and messages" with the girl.

Police are concerned Bero may have additional victims. Detectives of the Special Victims Investigations Division (SVID) are asking anyone who believes that he/she is a victim of Bero to call SVID detectives at 240-773-5400. Montgomery County Public Schools has placed Bero on administrative leave. Bero's bond information was not released by police yesterday.

Montgomery County Public Schools not the top school system in Maryland, analysis says

Prominent data analysis firm Stacker has used hard numbers to determine the best school district in each state across America. Montgomery County Public Schools was not the winner.

Stacker says Howard County public schools are the best in the state. They determined this by reviewing statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, SAT/ACT scores, college readiness, teacher quality, and graduation rates.

MCPS has been in a steady decline since 2010, despite record spending on public schools over that same time. County elected officials have panicked this fall as a sizable number of parents transferred their MCPS students into private schools, and only a fraction of the anticipated number of new students materialized on the MCPS 2020-21 student roster.

Montgomery County health officer rescinds order closing private schools

St. Bartholomew's Catholic School
in Bethesda

One of the most bizarre weeks in Montgomery County political history ended yesterday with Health Officer Travis Gayles rescinding his latest order closing private schools through October 1. Gayles knocked over a hornet's nest a week earlier with a similar order issued in the dark of night as the weekend began. Parents filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the order. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan rebuked County officials, and issued his own order blocking the County from declaring a blanket closure of private schools. Gayles rescinded his first order, and then issued a second one based on a different Maryland law. As the week ended, County officials ignored a tepid memo from the Hogan administration, and were moving aggressively to shutter private schools as some began to announce they would start the semester online-only.

The aggressive stance County officials had taken Thursday made their capitulation Friday appropriately bizarre, in keeping with a turbulent week that made national headlines, with Montgomery County a topic on cable news. Gayles said he decided to rescind his order after reading the memo from the Maryland Secretary of Health. But that memo was issued more than 24 hours prior to Gayles announcing he was rescinding the order.

What is clear is that virtually all of the deliberation about the whole matter has taken place behind closed doors, out of public view. If the County had no legal standing, why did it issue the order in the first place? The County has often broken the law and prevailed in court virtually every time. What did they fear would happen this time?

Many believed the move was to stanch the outflow of Montgomery County Public School students to private schools this fall. MCPS had projected it would register 2500 new students for the fall semester. Instead, only 300 had signed up by mid-summer. Parents who felt their children were ill-served by MCPS online instruction last spring sought the in-class instruction many private schools will offer this fall. Student athletes sought private schools where they could still impress college scouts, where MCPS has cancelled sports this fall. And MCPS has been in a steep decline since 2010, no longer considered a premiere school system.

It's unclear what the week-long Kabuki theater by the County accomplished, other than riling up a new group of residents into political activism. Parents may or may not remember that the County Council supported the closure of private schools when they vote in 2022. A few schools and a few students may have changed plans, but ultimately County officials lost more than they gained.

Gayles issued a new order yesterday. It does not force private schools to close, but basically says it is unsafe for them to open, and that they will operate over his objections. The order essentially gives Gayles ground to say, "I told you so," if there is an outbreak of Covid-19 at a private school this fall. However, many have pointed out that summer camps and daycare programs have been operating all summer without a reported outbreak. If the outcome is anything like the run-up, we can be sure it will be unpredictable.

Montgomery County appears to have upper hand on private schools closure order until court date

Our Lady of Good Counsel High School

Tepid state response comes amid some

private schools' decisions to accept 

online start to fall semester

Is the newest order by Montgomery County Health Officer Travis Gayles closing private schools through October 1, 2020 legal, in light of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's own order forbidding such blanket closures of non-public schools? We likely won't even begin to know the answer to that question until it gets its first courtroom hearing a week from today. But Montgomery County's aggressive approach, and one state official's tepid response to it Thursday, appears to have given Montgomery leaders the upper hand in the interim.

A few private schools have begun switching gears amidst the impasse, announcing they will begin their fall semesters online, rather than in-class. This may demoralize some opponents of the County's order, if their students enrolled in those schools can't have in-person instruction before October anyway. Some Catholics have criticized the Archdiocese of Washington for not making a more forceful stand against the closures of their schools, while others have said Catholic leaders are most effective negotiating quietly behind the scenes.

But a response from Hogan putting the County in its place that many opponents hoped was coming from Annapolis yesterday never arrived. In its stead was a letter from Maryland Secretary of Health Robert R. Neall. Rather than threaten legal or law enforcement action against County officials for violating Hogan's express order, it simply laid out "the State of Maryland's position" on the matter. The letter reiterated Hogan's order that counties may not institute blanket closures of all private schools, but that health officers retain the authority to shut down individual schools in violation of CDC and Maryland Health Department protocols on reopening of schools. Montgomery County promptly ignored Neall's letter and proceeded forward.

Perhaps the state's low-key response is strategic ahead of the upcoming legal battle. But in the short term, it appears Hogan will not take immediate action to enforce his order. That leaves parents to continue to be the primary opposing force for at least another week. It also leaves the outcome in the hands of the judge in a courtroom, a place where Montgomery County Government almost never loses, it must be noted. If Montgomery County's order isn't legally airtight, they're sure acting like it is - and in the absence of action from Annapolis, they aim to take a knee and run out the clock.

With the overall goal being about protecting enrollment numbers at Montgomery County Public Schools amid an exodus of students as much a public health, the luxury of no strong opposition from Annapolis is a winning hand. That time ticking away, and the uncertainty, is already having an impact on some private schools' plans.

"The way forward for Good Counsel is to focus on stability," Our Lady of Good Counsel High School President Paul G. Barker said in a statement yesterday, announcing the school will begin the semester online. "We have just over a week to faculty orientation, two weeks to freshman orientation, and three weeks to the first day of classes for all. We have waited as long as we can to provide our teachers and families a clear path for the start of school."

Montgomery County digs in to fight parents with new private schools closure order

Bullis School in Potomac

Order again prohibits

private schools from opening

through October 1

Montgomery County officials moved aggressively Wednesday to signal they will fight private school parents on the question of whether private schools will be allowed to open for in-person instruction this fall. County Health Officer Travis Gayles was heavily criticized for issuing an order late last Friday evening prohibiting private schools from opening through October 1, 2020, and then hiding from the local media until Monday. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) first criticized the County's order, and then issued his own order prohibiting any Maryland county from issuing a blanket closure of private schools. A group of private school parents then filed a lawsuit against Gayles' order. Despite this, Gayles issued a new order last evening, again blocking private schools from opening through October 1.

The new order cites a different, very broad Maryland law to justify the closures, Maryland Code Annotated Health General § 18-208. However, this law states:

a)(1) When a health officer has reason to believe that a disease that endangers public health exists within the county, the health officer shall:

(i) Report immediately to the appropriate county board of health;  and

(ii) With the approval of the board:

1. Investigate the suspected disease;  and

2. Act properly to prevent the spread of the disease.

The County board of health in our case is the County Council. Gayles may "act properly to prevent the spread of" Covid-19 "with the approval of the board." So far, the Council has not taken a formal vote to approve the closure of private schools in Montgomery County. To the extent that the Council has discussed the topic at all, most councilmembers supported Gayles' original order. Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) has attempted to have it both ways by sending Gayles a letter with questions about his decision, but did not rake Gayles over the coals when he testified before the Council earlier this week and had the opportunity, much less openly oppose the closure order.

Similarly, the Council does not wish to accept the political responsibility for closing private schools, and are glad to cede that role to Gayles, an unelected official who does not have to face voters in the 2022 elections. There's no question they support it, however, as the Montgomery County political cartel is demanding the private school closure.

Considering that Montgomery County Government virtually never loses in any courthouse located within the borders of Maryland (even when laws or County rules have been broken, as in the Westbard case), a judge might find the Council's verbal support and lack of action against Gayles' orders to be sufficient to say Gayles is acting "with the approval of the board." How Gayles' latest order can stand in the context of Hogan's order preventing a blanket closure of private schools is the biggest legal question, it would seem. Hogan has not yet responded with any new official action since the new County order was issued Wednesday.

The October 1 date is significant from a federal funding standpoint, not a health standpoint. That the County would take such an aggressive posture to ensure a closure through October 1 merely confirms that the exodus of students from Montgomery County Public Schools to private schools is significant and intensifying.

In fact, the closure order and successive media frenzy has been great advertising for private schools, possibly ending up as a backfire for those who sought to use the ban to stop the outflow of students seeking in-person instruction and athletics. Everything from MCPS funding to teacher salaries depends upon the enrollment numbers in the public school system, understandably leading those who will wind up losing from a mass flight to private schools pounding the panic button.

There is a legitimate question as to the risk to students, teachers, parents and the community at large that private schools opening would pose during the pandemic. But the legal questions as to the authority of the health officer and governor over the matter are likely to be resolved first, in the hours, days and weeks ahead.