After months of warnings that budget cuts could shut it down, the Montgomery County Public Schools Construction Trades Foundation program at Thomas Edison High School of Technology appears to have ended this school year.
A visit to the school turned up empty parking spaces reserved for Foundations Office staff. The construction zone where students have built homes for decades sat bare, with no equipment or activity visible.
A staff member who answered the phone at Thomas Edison confirmed MCPS had cut the program.
A program 50 years in the making
The program marked its 50th year in operation this past spring. Students from Thomas Edison and Seneca Valley high schools spent two years building the program’s 44th home, a three level, four-bedroom house on O’Fallon Street in Silver Spring. The home sold for $799,000.
Cuts flagged months ago
MCM reported in May that Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s proposed budget targeted four positions tied to the program. Those included the Foundations Office supervisor, instructional specialists, and a fiscal assistant. Eliminating the positions was expected to save MCPS about $460,000.
At the time, people gathered at the finished home said losing those four positions would likely end the program.
The Montgomery County Board of Education adopted its final Fiscal Year 2027 budget on June 4. As a result, the $3.72 billion budget cut 415 positions across the district after the County Council approved $36 million less than MCPS requested.
Days after staff confirmed the Construction Trades Foundation program had been cut, the Foundations Office parking spaces at Thomas Edison sat empty when MCM visited this week.
MCPS shared the following statement with MCM following the original publication of this article:
“Montgomery County Public Schools continues to provide a strong and diverse range of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs that prepare students for college, careers and the workforce. These opportunities extend well beyond the traditional trades and include fields such as biotechnology, computer science, coding and programming, health professions, engineering and many other high-demand occupations.
Separate from MCPS and its CTE programs are independent 501(c)(3) foundations that support our schools, students and programs, including in the skilled trades. Those foundations continue to operate and remain valued partners in supporting student learning and career preparation.
MCPS is currently working with the foundations to establish formal Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs). This work is intended to provide greater clarity about the relationship between the independent foundations and the school system, including how they can work with and support MCPS schools, programs and students.
The foundations are supportive of this work and of our continued partnership. While those agreements are being finalized, our CTE programs are up and running, teachers continue to provide instruction, and MCPS and the foundations are working together to identify appropriate projects and opportunities for students.”
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