Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor has given a direct and candid assessment of the ongoing payroll issues, promising a resolution by the end of this week. During an appearance on Sunil Dasgupta’s “I Hate Politics” podcast, Dr. Taylor took ownership of the problem and admitted that it is not a new challenge for the school district.
“I think you’re looking at an expected fix date of end of this week,” Dr. Taylor stated, referring to the first full week of August. “This is the first full week of August and we expect to have everything in order by the end of the week.” The ongoing issues have been a source of significant frustration for MCPS employees, who have experienced late and inaccurate payments.
The problems have reportedly been exacerbated by the transition to a new payroll system called Hub+, leading both the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) and the support staff union to file class action grievances against the school district. Dr. Taylor attributed the current difficulties to “human error,” noting, “We are contending with a couple of instances of human error some that are easier to fix than others.” He highlighted a particular challenge with part-time employees who work during the summer, calling it a “big barrier” that the administration is working to resolve.
Dr. Taylor acknowledged that the payroll woes are not isolated to the current year. “As painful as it is to say this, this is not just a ‘this year’ problem. This was a problem last year and the year before it and the year before that,” he said. Dr. Taylor also directly accepting responsibility for the situation on behalf of the school system, stating, “This one’s on us. And we need to make sure that we pay our people when they should be paid and exactly what they’re owed.”