Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich addressed Montgomery County Public Schools’ estimated $3 billion maintenance backlog in his latest weekly update, attributing the growing need to years of prioritizing school capacity projects over renovations and upkeep.
Elrich said previous MCPS leaders did not request all the maintenance funding the district needed because they believed it would not be approved. He also said previous county councils did not raise bond capacity enough to keep pace with inflation and growing maintenance needs.
As Montgomery County’s student population grew, Elrich said MCPS and county leaders prioritized expanding capacity and constructing schools. “Expansion won, maintenance lost, and the needs piled up,” Elrich wrote.
According to Elrich, addressing the backlog would require additional revenue to support increased bonding unless funding is redirected from other projects in the county’s capital budget. He said eliminating those projects would create a different set of problems.
MCPS recently presented its FY 2027 Comprehensive Maintenance and Operations Plan to the Montgomery County Board of Education. The district maintains 211 active facilities encompassing approximately 26.5 million SF of educational space.
The average MCPS school building is 30.1 years old, and the district estimates approximately $560 million is needed annually for routine capital replacement. Maintenance teams addressed more than 76,000 work orders during FY 2026.
MCPS is exploring a new computerized work-order management system to improve tracking and provide greater public access to maintenance information. The district is also seeking to move from reactive repairs toward more proactive and preventive maintenance.
Elrich noted that MCPS is now experiencing declining enrollment, but said the school system’s infrastructure needs remain.
