Community Voice on MCPS Regional Program Model: PROTECT MCPS COUNTYWIDE MAGNET PROGRAMS!

PROTECT MCPS COUNTYWIDE MAGNET PROGRAMS!

Reconsider the Rushed Six-Region Plan – Preserve Excellence for All Students

Why Every Montgomery County Family Should Care

Even if your children aren’t in Magnet programs, these proposed changes will profoundly affect our entire community:

• Neighborhoods & Property Values
Families move to Montgomery County for high-quality schools. Weakening our countywide Magnet programs threatens property values, neighborhood appeal, and our county’s reputation for educational excellence.

• Quality Across All Schools
Magnet programs attract outstanding teachers, innovative projects, and bring advanced coursework that raises academic standards districtwide.

• Unequal Access for Students
Dividing programs into six smaller regions will limit the size of applicant pools—resulting in fewer resources, fewer advanced classes, and reduced course variety. Some regions may not be able to sustain specialized programs at all. Expansion should be taking place one at a time with meticulous planning and multi-stage implementation to ensure proper staffing, training, community engagement and logistically smooth transition.

• Rushed Implementation Creates Chaos
The proposed six-region plan is untested, significantly under-resourced, and extremely rushed, with barely any real meaningful stakeholder input. Many design team members have testified that MCPS ignored their recommendations and rather took a rigid top-down approach with a pre-defined agenda. Implementing this model countywide would disrupt planning, staffing, and scheduling—undermining education quality for all students.

• Fragmented Programs Reduce Innovation
Regional separation risks duplication of effort, loss of collaboration, and inefficient use of taxpayer funds. Communities will see reduced extracurricular opportunities and shared resources.

• Equity Issues Remain Unsolved
Regionalization won’t fix equity—it could widen gaps. Smaller regional programs often lack the teachers, resources, and course variety needed to serve all students equitably.

While the proposal frames regionalization as a path toward greater accessibility, it overlooks major disparities among regions. High-quality Magnet programs depend on specialized staff, advanced coursework, and a critical mass of well-prepared students—standards that smaller, region-based models are unlikely to meet consistently in all 6 regions

The current Enrichment Program and regional IB programs already demonstrated these challenges: limited resources, inconsistent implementation, and uneven access across schools. Expanding a similar model countywide risks repeating the same mistakes on a larger scale.

Instead of creating equity, this plan could fragment resources, weaken program quality, and reduce opportunities—especially for the very students it claims to support.

Worse yet, placing criteria-based programs mainly in lower-FARMS-rate schools that the regional model plans will increase difficulties for high-FARM school students to access these programs and further deepen divides between higher- and lower-SES communities, undermining true educational equity across the county.

Our Call to Action

✅Pause the countywide dismantling of existing successful magnet programs, including but not limited to Blair and Poolsville SMCS programs, RMIB program and Wheaton engineering program.
✅ Pilot regional programs carefully before full implementation
✅ Ensure transparency and genuine community involvement in planning
✅ Protect the resources that strengthen all schools and neighborhoods

SPEAK UP FOR OUR COMMUNITY!

Here’s how you can help:

Sign the petition – scan the QR code below
Share widely – with neighbors, community groups, school councils, PTAs, and on social media
Email your concerns to:
- MCPS superintendent: Thomas_W_Taylor@mcpsmd.org
- MCPS & BOE members:

📣 Together, we can preserve excellence and equity for every Montgomery County student.

– This petition is launched by a group of concerned parents, who had or have students in the magnet programs or are interested in applying to magnet programs in the future. This petition is endorsed by the Chinese American Parent Association at Montgomery County (CAPA-MC).

If you are interested to learn more about other groups’ or organizations’ concerns or petitions, here are a few:

Announcement from MCCPTA: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/10/31/mccpta-slow-programming-changes/

Announcement from MCEA:

https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/11/06/teachers-union-halt-programming-changes

Announcement from CAPA-MC: