NO×JAWANDO
Photo: Maryland GovPics, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Image converted to greyscale.

Montgomery County Executive 2026

Failing our kids. Higher taxes. Less affordable.

Eight years on the Council. Eight years too many.

Will Jawando voted against the county's most significant housing expansion in years. He co-sponsored a rent control law that has produced a 97% collapse in multifamily housing permits. He has championed, co-sponsored, or voted for six separate tax increase proposals since 2020. And under his chairmanship of the Education & Culture Committee, Montgomery County Public Schools have faced one governance scandal after another. The facts — sourced, dated, and linked — are below.

Anti-Housing Anti-Growth Weak School Oversight

Watch the ad

"One Job"

Watch on YouTube  ·  Paid for by Affordable Maryland PAC, Elizabeth Brent, Treasurer. Not authorized by any candidate.

The latest

The same day Affordable Maryland released "One Job" — the ad documenting Jawando's record of failing grades and higher taxes — Jawando struck another blow to county families and the affordability crisis: he voted to raise their taxes.

In April 2026, Jawando publicly promised "no property tax rate increase" and pledged to protect the Income Tax Offset Credit, the $692 credit that holds down property tax bills for roughly 192,000 Montgomery County homeowners. On May 15, he voted for a county budget that does the opposite — raising income taxes and abolishing the ITOC, which raises the property tax bill of every one of those homeowners by $692. County Executive Marc Elrich has called the council's tax package "regressive" because the burden falls hardest on lower-income homeowners. See the full record on the Taxes page.

The Record at a Glance

A record of higher costs, weaker accountability, and slower growth.

Will Jawando has chaired the Council's Education & Culture Committee since December 2022, a stretch during which MCPS graduation rates have collapsed to a five-year low and roughly half of MCPS third graders cannot read at grade level. He cast the deciding committee vote against the University Boulevard housing plan. He co-sponsored a rent control law tied to a 97% drop in multifamily permits. And he has proposed raising taxes on Montgomery County residents in nearly every category available to him.

5-yr low
MCPS graduation rate has fallen to a five-year low under Jawando's Education Committee chairmanship — dropping more than twice as fast as the statewide average.[1]
97%
Collapse in Montgomery County multifamily housing permits after the Jawando-co-sponsored rent control law took effect.[2]
6
Tax increase proposals Jawando has championed, co-sponsored, or voted for between 2020 and 2026, across three tax categories.[3]
$854M
Six-year shortfall projected in Montgomery County's December 2025 revenue forecast — a result of slow growth and a shrinking tax base.[4]

From the campaign

Why we are making this case.

Montgomery County is in trouble. The last eight years have produced higher taxes, a stagnant economy, and a cost of living that has driven residents and businesses out of the county — and that was before the Trump administration's assault on the federal workforce made things dramatically worse. Families are hurting. The county's fiscal position is deteriorating. This is not a moment for doubling down on the approach to housing, education, and affordability that put us in such a weakened position. — Jonathan Robinson, Chair, Affordable Maryland PAC

Affordable Maryland PAC's "One Job" campaign documents Jawando's record across four areas: schools, taxes, cost of living, and accountability. Coverage at Montgomery Perspective.[5] Voters should evaluate the evidence and make their own judgment about whether Will Jawando is the right person for such an important job. Our message to Montgomery County Democratic primary voters is simple: you are not obligated to ratify this. It's okay to vote no on Jawando.

Why this site exists

Voters deserve the full record.

Montgomery County is one of the most expensive places in America to live, and one of the slowest-growing major jurisdictions in the Washington region. The next County Executive will decide whether the county adds housing, retains businesses, gets MCPS back on track — or whether it keeps doing what it has been doing. Will Jawando's record over eight years on the Council is the clearest evidence of which path he would take. This site documents that record. Every claim links to a public source.

Sources for this page

  1. "MCPS graduation rate falls to five-year low" — Bethesda Today, Jan. 28, 2026. See Education page for full sourcing on graduation rates and third-grade reading.
  2. "MoCo planners concerned by 'drop' in multifamily building permits" — Bethesda Today, Aug. 11, 2025. See Economy page for full sourcing.
  3. See Taxes page for itemized sourcing on each of the six tax proposals.
  4. "Montgomery County projects $854M less in revenues over 6 years" — WTOP, Dec. 10, 2025.
  5. "Affordable Maryland PAC Releases Anti-Jawando TV Ad" — Montgomery Perspective, May 15, 2026.

Issue 01 — Housing

Anti-housing. Anti-growth.

Montgomery County faces one of the most acute housing shortages in the Washington region. When the County Council finally took up its most significant housing supply expansion in years — the University Boulevard Corridor Plan — Will Jawando voted no, and filed a failed amendment to preserve single-family-only zoning. He also co-sponsored the 2023 rent control law that has since been linked to a 97% collapse in new multifamily housing permits.

The Lauren condominium building, Bethesda, Maryland

Photo: Lorax, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Image resized for web.

The vote that defined the record

No on University Boulevard.

On December 9, 2025, the Montgomery County Council voted 7-3 to approve the University Boulevard Corridor Plan — a sweeping plan to allow missing middle housing on more than 170 properties currently restricted to single-family detached homes, expand mixed-use development along a 3.5-mile transit corridor, and improve sidewalks, bike facilities, and transit infrastructure.[1]

Jawando voted against the plan, along with Councilmembers Kristin Mink and Sidney Katz.[1] He had also been the lone "no" vote on the Planning, Housing and Parks Committee a month earlier when it advanced the plan to the full council — actively trying to keep the plan from even reaching a vote.[2]

The amendment to neutralize the plan

A failed amendment to preserve single-family-only zoning.

During council consideration of the plan, Jawando offered an amendment that would have preserved existing single-family residential zoning throughout the corridor — effectively neutralizing the plan's central housing supply expansion. The amendment failed; it was supported only by Jawando, Mink, and Katz.[3]

Greater Greater Washington, the regional pro-housing publication, noted that opponents of the Corridor Plan, including Jawando, "made it explicit that their goal was to pare back any provisions of the UBCP" that went beyond an earlier, weaker zoning measure.[3]

Rent control

Co-sponsored a rent control law tied to a 97% drop in multifamily permits.

In July 2023, the Montgomery County Council voted 7-4 to enact Bill 15-23 — the strictest rent control law of any major jurisdiction in the Washington region. Jawando was one of six original sponsors of the bill.[5] On the day of passage, he celebrated the vote as "a momentous day."[5]

What has happened in the two years since is documented in county planning data. New multifamily housing permits in Montgomery County have collapsed:

QuarterNew Multifamily Permits Issued
Q1 FY 2022 (pre-rent-control)821
Q1 FY 2023603
Q1 FY 2024555
Q1 FY 2025 (after rent control took effect)7

That is not normal market behavior. As Bethesda Today reported, county planners themselves acknowledged the magnitude: "Three quarters really is something … and that really does suggest that there's a real suppression of housing production in the county."[6]

The Montgomery County Planning Department's own Residential Development Pipeline Analysis later confirmed that, in interviews with 14 developers, "the most common policy barrier mentioned was the rent stabilization regulation passed in 2023."[7]

Bill 15-23 was an aggressive and pernicious rent control law, co-sponsored by Jawando. Two years later, new apartment construction has effectively stopped.

The endorsement that confirms the pattern

Marc Elrich — Jawando's chosen endorser.

The University Boulevard vote was not an isolated moment. Marc Elrich — the County Executive who has called the University Boulevard plan "an effort to give stuff away to developers" — has endorsed Jawando to succeed him. Elrich publicly thanked Jawando, Mink, and Katz for their no votes.[4]

Voters can judge for themselves what it means when the candidate seeking to lead Montgomery County into its next chapter is endorsed by the executive presiding over its current economic decline.

Sources for this page

  1. "Montgomery County Council approves controversial University Boulevard plan in divided vote" — The Baltimore Banner, Dec. 2025.
  2. "Controversial University Boulevard Corridor Plan advances to full County Council" — Bethesda Today, Nov. 11, 2025.
  3. "The University Boulevard Corridor Plan passed." — Greater Greater Washington, Dec. 10, 2025.
  4. "Elrich criticizes advancement of University Boulevard Corridor Plan" — Bethesda Today, Nov. 13, 2025.
  5. "Council Passes Bill to Stabilize Rent" — Montgomery Community Media, July 19, 2023. See also Montgomery County official release.
  6. "MoCo planners concerned by 'drop' in multifamily building permits" — Bethesda Today, Aug. 11, 2025.
  7. "More Evidence That Rent Control is Preventing Housing Construction" — Montgomery Perspective, Sept. 19, 2025.

Issue 02 — Taxes & Cost of Living

Six tax increase proposals — and one promise he could not keep.

In April 2026, Will Jawando publicly promised that he would not support a property tax rate increase and would protect the Income Tax Offset Credit, the $692 homeowner credit received by roughly 192,000 Montgomery County homeowners. On May 15, 2026, he voted yes on a county budget that abolished it anyway — a tax hike that even Marc Elrich has called "regressive" because the burden falls disproportionately on lower-income homeowners. It is the latest entry in a record of tax increases that now stretches across six years.

Montgomery County government building, Rockville, Maryland

Photo: Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Image resized for web.

The 2026 Budget Reversal — a broken promise

Promised no tax hike. Voted for one anyway.

On April 27, 2026, with Election Day weeks away, Jawando released his FY27 budget framework promising five "core protections." Two of them were explicit:

From Jawando's April 27 press release "No property tax rate increase." The County Executive's proposed 6.3-cent increase, the largest single-year property tax rate hike since the current system began in 2001, would cost the average single-family homeowner more than $900 a year. Councilmember Jawando's framework rejects it entirely.

"Preservation of the Income Tax Offset Credit (ITOC)... [protecting] roughly 192,000 homeowners... Other proposals would eliminate [it]."[11]

Three weeks later, the Council voted to do the opposite. On May 15, 2026, the Council passed a straw vote on the full FY27 operating budget by a 9-2 margin — with Will Jawando voting yes. The only two no votes were Councilmembers Andrew Friedson and Dawn Luedtke. That budget abolishes the $692 Income Tax Offset Credit for FY27 — effectively raising the property tax bill for every one of those 192,000 homeowners by $692.[12][13]

Will Jawando had previously voted against the standalone ITOC repeal. But on May 15, he voted yes on the budget package that contained it. The same Council Member who, three weeks earlier, had publicly built his FY27 framework around the explicit promise to protect the ITOC, ratified its repeal as part of the final budget package.

This is not a small tax increase. Per Adam Pagnucco's analysis: the combined implementation of progressive income tax rates and the abolition of the ITOC will raise a net $102 million from county homeowners this year. The burden falls disproportionately on lower-income homeowners — homeowners on fixed incomes, seniors in places like Leisure World, working families who applied for and rely on the credit. Marc Elrich himself, the same County Executive whose tax plan Jawando rejected, has publicly called the council's substitute "regressive."[12][14]

Jawando ran on a promise of "no property tax rate increase" and "preservation of the ITOC." He then voted for a budget that raised property taxes on 192,000 homeowners by $692 each — a tax increase County Executive Elrich called "regressive."

Note: The Council is scheduled to take a final binding vote on the FY27 budget on May 21, 2026. This page reflects the May 15 straw vote that locked in the policy framework. We will update with the final vote.

Tax Proposal #1 — February 2020

Property tax surcharge on larger homes (HB 1276).

In February 2020, Jawando championed Maryland House Bill 1276, which would have given Montgomery County the authority to assess a higher property tax rate on homes 5,000 square feet or larger. Jawando held a news conference with Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr to promote the bill.[1]

Tax Proposal #2 — February 2020

Income tax cap increase: 3.2% to 3.5% (HB 1494).

Alongside HB 1276, Jawando championed HB 1494, which would have raised the maximum income tax rate Maryland counties could charge from 3.2% to 3.5%. The new bracket was targeted at incomes above $1 million.[2]

Tax Proposal #3 — January 2023

Income tax cap increase: 3.2% to 3.7% (Palakovich Carr / Jawando bill).

In January 2023, Jawando appeared with Palakovich Carr to promote the "More Local Tax Relief for Working Families Act of 2023." The bill would have raised the maximum income tax rate Maryland counties could charge from 3.2% to 3.7%, with the new bracket targeted at incomes above $500,000.[3]

Jawando said at the news conference that if the state bill passed, he was "very interested" in using his council authority to work with colleagues "immediately" on a county-level progressive bracket bill.[3]

Tax Proposal #4 — May 2023

Recordation tax increase — a tax on buying a home (Bill 17-23).

On May 9, 2023, the Montgomery County Council voted 7-4 to enact Bill 17-23, increasing the county recordation tax — a one-time tax paid when buying or refinancing a home. Councilmember Kristin Mink was the lead sponsor; Jawando was the co-sponsor.[4]

In Jawando's own words, the buyer of a million-dollar home would pay roughly $1,500 more at closing under the new rates.[5] The Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors said the increase, combined with the property tax hike Jawando was pushing in parallel, "would hurt anyone even thinking of buying a home in the county."[6]

May 2023 — The 4.7% vote

Voted no on a 4.7% property tax hike because it was too low.

Days after the recordation tax bill passed, the council voted to approve a 4.7% property tax increase as part of the FY24 operating budget — one of the largest property tax hikes in recent county history. Jawando voted against the measure.[7]

WTOP and Bethesda Magazine reported Jawando, Mink, and Stewart "objected to cutting the proposed increase by roughly half, insisting schools needed a greater funding increase."[8]

A 4.7% property tax increase was, to Will Jawando, not large enough.

Tax Proposal #5 — May 2025

Income tax increase, 3.2% to 3.3%, to fund MCPS.

In May 2025, Jawando publicly backed County Executive Marc Elrich's proposal to raise the county income tax from 3.2% to 3.3% to fully fund the MCPS budget request for fiscal year 2026.[9]

When the council rejected the income tax increase in favor of a one-time redirection of retiree health funds, Jawando issued a statement calling the alternative "not a sustainable solution," writing: "We must identify responsible and equitable ways to raise revenues."[10]

Tax Proposal #6 — May 2026

Voted to abolish the $692 homeowner credit (Income Tax Offset Credit).

On May 15, 2026, Jawando voted yes on a county budget that abolished the Income Tax Offset Credit — the $692 homeowner credit received by roughly 192,000 Montgomery County homeowners — months after publicly promising he would protect it. County Executive Marc Elrich called the council's substitute "regressive." Full sourcing and analysis are detailed at the top of this page.[11][12][14]

The pattern

When the question is revenue, Jawando's answer is "more."

Property. Recordation. Income. Income again. Property again. And now the abolition of the $692 homeowner credit. Across six years and three tax categories, Jawando's instinct is the same. When the council passed one of the largest property tax hikes in recent history, he voted against it — for being too small. When schools needed funding, his answer was a tax increase, not the operational accountability that should come from his own committee.

Montgomery County residents already pay among the highest combined state and local taxes in the country. Voters deciding the next County Executive race will decide whether that trajectory continues.

Sources for this page

  1. "Should Montgomery County's wealthy pay more taxes?" — Fox 5 DC, Feb. 25, 2020.
  2. "State bills would let Montgomery Co. raise some income taxes, cut some property taxes" — WTOP, Feb. 24, 2020.
  3. "Progressives float bill to let Montgomery, other counties hike taxes on top earners" — Bethesda Magazine, Jan. 17, 2023.
  4. "County Councilmembers Mink, Jawando propose legislation to increase real estate 'recordation' tax" — Bethesda Magazine, March 21, 2023.
  5. "Montgomery County Council raises the recordation tax rate." — WJLA, May 2023.
  6. "Recordation tax increase OK'd for homes sold at prices over $600,000" — Bethesda Magazine, May 11, 2023.
  7. "Council Updates Recordation Tax Rates" — Montgomery County official release, May 9, 2023.
  8. "In preliminary budget vote, Montgomery Co. Council OKs nearly 5-cent property tax hike" — WTOP, May 19, 2023. See also Bethesda Magazine.
  9. "Montgomery County councilmember backs raising income tax to fund vital services" — WUSA9, May 5, 2025.
  10. "Some still advocate for income tax hike despite new MCPS budget funding proposal" — Bethesda Magazine, May 13, 2025.
  11. "Jawando Releases Plan to Balance Budget with No Property Tax Increase" — Montgomery Perspective, April 27, 2026. Quotation from Jawando's official press release of the same date, as reprinted by Montgomery Perspective.
  12. "The Kicking the Can Budget" — Montgomery Perspective, May 15, 2026. "The council rejected [Elrich's tax plan], but its combined implementation of progressive income tax rates and the abolition of the $692 Income Tax Offset Credit (ITOC) received by homeowners will raise a net $102 million this year."
  13. "County Council Budget Straw Approval" — Bethesda Today, May 15, 2026.
  14. "Elrich Criticizes 'Regressive' Council Tax Hike" — Montgomery Perspective, May 11, 2026.

Issue 03 — Economy

A county economy in serious trouble.

Montgomery County is not keeping up. Economic growth has effectively flatlined while Northern Virginia surges ahead. Housing production has collapsed under a rent control law Will Jawando co-sponsored. The county now projects an $854 million revenue shortfall over six years. These are the conditions the next County Executive will inherit — and several of them are direct consequences of votes Jawando cast.

Pike & Rose development, North Bethesda, Maryland

Photo: Lorax, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Image resized for web.

The big picture

0.2% growth over five years. Fairfax: 20.8%.

According to research from George Mason University's Stephen S. Fuller Institute, Montgomery County's Gross Regional Product (GRP) — the broadest measure of economic activity — grew just 0.2% from 2017 to 2022. Over the same five-year period:

  • Fairfax County, VA: +20.8%
  • Loudoun County, VA: +25.9%
  • Stafford County, VA: +18.8%

The GMU researchers concluded that "Northern Virginia notably outperformed Suburban Maryland." Northern Virginia's share of the Washington Region's economy rose from 43.4% in 2017 to 46.4% in 2022, while Suburban Maryland's share declined from 30.9% to 28.5%.[1]

This is not a story about federal employment or macro trends affecting everyone equally. Montgomery County's neighbors are growing. Montgomery County is not.

Housing production

Multifamily permits in free fall — 97% drop after Jawando's rent control bill.

This is the single clearest causal link between a Jawando vote and a measurable economic harm. Jawando was one of six original sponsors of Bill 15-23, the 2023 rent control law. After the law took effect in July 2024, multifamily housing permits in Montgomery County essentially stopped:[2]

QuarterNew Multifamily Permits Issued
Q1 FY 2022821
Q1 FY 2023603
Q1 FY 2024555
Q1 FY 20257

The same pattern does not show up in other Maryland counties. Between October 2024 and August 2025, the county issued permits for 54 multifamily housing units. Several neighboring jurisdictions, by comparison, issued hundreds or thousands.[3]

The Montgomery County Planning Department's own analysis of the development pipeline, based on 14 developer interviews, found that "by far the most common policy barrier mentioned was the rent stabilization regulation passed in 2023."[4]

The revenue picture

$854 million shortfall over six years.

In December 2025, Montgomery County's Office of Management and Budget delivered the news to the Council: the county's six-year fiscal forecast had been revised down by $854 million. Property taxes alone are projected to come in $530 million below earlier expectations over the period; income taxes are projected $312 million below.[5]

County officials pointed primarily to federal policy changes — reduced federal workforce, slower immigration, tariff-driven cost increases. But the underlying vulnerability is the one GMU has been documenting for years: Montgomery County's economy is too dependent on a single sector and has not diversified the way Northern Virginia has.[1]

This is the fiscal picture the next County Executive will inherit. The county that has spent the last decade making housing supply harder, raising taxes repeatedly, and presiding over MCPS scandals now has to figure out how to close a near-billion-dollar revenue gap without driving more residents and businesses across the river.

What this means for voters

A track record that points one direction.

The Montgomery County economy is at an inflection point. The next County Executive will decide whether the county chooses growth — building more housing, attracting more employers, broadening the tax base — or doubles down on the policies of the past decade.

Will Jawando's record on every one of those questions is on the page you just read. He co-sponsored the rent control law that froze multifamily construction. He voted against the University Boulevard housing plan. He has proposed or voted for six different tax increases. And he has chaired the Education Committee through one of the most troubled stretches in MCPS history — the same school system whose performance is central to the county's competitiveness for families and employers.

This is the record. Voters can decide what to do with it.

Sources for this page

  1. "Regional Economic Output From 2017 to 2022" — Stephen S. Fuller Institute, George Mason University, Jan. 29, 2024.
  2. "Council Passes Bill to Stabilize Rent" — Montgomery Community Media, July 19, 2023. For 7-4 vote roster including Jawando, see also Montgomery County official release.
  3. "Is Montgomery County's controversial rent stabilization law working?" — The Baltimore Banner, Feb. 24, 2026.
  4. "MoCo planners concerned by 'drop' in multifamily building permits" — Bethesda Today, Aug. 11, 2025. See also "More Evidence That Rent Control is Preventing Housing Construction" — Montgomery Perspective, Sept. 19, 2025.
  5. "Montgomery County projects $854M less in revenues over 6 years" — WTOP, Dec. 10, 2025. See also Fox 5 DC and WJLA.

Issue 04 — Education

An Education Chair who has failed to hold MCPS to account.

Will Jawando has chaired the Montgomery County Council's Education & Culture Committee — the body with oversight responsibility for Montgomery County Public Schools — since December 2022. During his chairmanship, MCPS has produced one of the most troubled governance records of any large school district in the region.

Will Jawando portrait

Photo: Benjamin Sky Brandt for the Montgomery County Council, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr. Image resized for web.

Outcomes — the bottom line

Outcomes are getting worse, not better.

Will Jawando has chaired the Council's Education & Culture Committee since December 2022. During his tenure, the indicators that matter most to Montgomery County families have all moved in the wrong direction.

−2,641
Students lost in a single year (2024-25 to 2025-26) — the largest one-year decline since the pandemic. Total enrollment has dropped ~8,700 from its 2019 peak, and MCPS projects another 7,000-student decline by 2031-32.[1]
54.9%
MCPS third graders proficient in English Language Arts on the 2023-24 state MCAP — meaning roughly half cannot read at grade level. A 2.7-point decline from the previous year. The committee charged with oversight has presided over fluctuation, not improvement.[2]
−3 pts
Single-year drop in MCPS graduation rate — 91.85% (Class of 2024) to 88.77% (Class of 2025). Largest decline in five years, more than twice the statewide drop. Hispanic/Latino students fell 6.7 points; multilingual learners 6.5 points; homeless students ~8 points.[3]

These are not abstract statistics. They are the measurable result of a school system that has been allowed to drift through a parade of governance scandals while its core mission — educating Montgomery County's children — falters.

The Beidleman scandal

Years of harassment complaints. A $2.3 million bill. "A personnel matter."

The Beidleman matter is the most serious MCPS scandal of Jawando's tenure as Education Committee chair. In August 2023, MCPS placed principal Joel Beidleman on extended leave following a Washington Post investigation. The Post documented that Beidleman had been promoted to lead Paint Branch High School despite at least 18 internal complaints of sexual harassment, bullying, and retaliation lodged over seven years.[9]

A December 2023 Office of the Inspector General report substantiated the allegations and identified "areas where MCPS leadership failed to be more proactive in addressing behavior that clearly violated established policies."[10] A separate Washington Post investigation found that an MCPS official had tampered with the internal investigation by directing changes to its findings.[11] WJLA documented the matter has cost taxpayers more than $2.3 million in legal fees, crisis-management services, and a $300,000 settlement to a former teacher.[12]

As Education Committee chair, Jawando pressed for release of the law firm's investigation report. But on the larger question of accountability — and specifically whether Superintendent Monifa McKnight should remain in her role — Jawando repeatedly described it as "a personnel matter" for the Board of Education to handle.[13]

Years of complaints. A substantiated misconduct finding. Investigation tampering. Over $2.3 million in taxpayer costs. From the Education Committee chair: "It's a personnel matter."

Other governance failures on his watch

A pattern of failures the Education Committee did not catch.

$1 million in procurement violations. A November 2025 Office of the Inspector General report found MCPS made approximately $1 million in purchases during FY23 and FY24 without obtaining required Board of Education approval, in violation of Maryland state law. Seven vendors were paid over the $25,000 threshold without approval — in some cases through aggregated smaller payments that evaded oversight entirely. MCPS conceded the report's accuracy. The OIG, not the Council, caught it.[4][5]

$168 million electric bus contract canceled as "unreasonable and illegal." Three weeks before the OIG procurement report, the Maryland State Board of Education tossed out an MCPS electric bus contract on those grounds.[4]

$39.3 million in state aid forfeited to a paperwork error. In October 2024, MCPS disclosed it would not receive expected state aid for the Charles W. Woodward Project — funding forfeited due to MCPS errors in calculating prevailing wage and bid awards. The Education and Culture Committee, with oversight responsibility, did not uncover it.[6]

Special-needs students pushed online; a teacher shortage that never ended. In summer 2022, roughly 175 students in the MCPS Extended School Year special education program were notified just before the program began that their services would shift to virtual format. MCPS told families that "due to the significant teacher shortage, (MCPS) has been unable to hire special education teachers."[7] As of August 2025, special education remained the largest category of MCPS vacancies, with 69 special education openings and 282 teacher-level vacancies overall.[8]

The pattern

A pattern of failure on his watch.

Procurement violations. A canceled $168 million contract. $39 million in lost state aid. Years-long harassment complaints handled with cover-up rather than action. A teacher shortage that pushes special-needs students online. The superintendent forced out. And the outcomes that matter most to families — enrollment, reading, graduation — all moving the wrong way.

Every one of these happened under the Council's Education and Culture Committee chair. Voters deserve to know whether that chair held MCPS to account — or whether he treated each failure as someone else's problem.

Sources for this page

  1. "MCPS enrollment continues to decline, projections show further drops" — Bethesda Today, Nov. 4, 2025. See also WTOP, Oct. 16, 2025.
  2. "MCPS MCAP scores show modest gains but persistent gaps" — Bethesda Today, Sept. 12, 2024. See also MCPS press release.
  3. "MCPS graduation rate falls to five-year low" — Bethesda Today, Jan. 28, 2026. See also MoCo Show, Jan. 27, 2026.
  4. "Report finds MCPS spent $1M without Board of Education approval" — Fox 5 DC, Nov. 18, 2025.
  5. "Report raises questions about spending at Montgomery County Public Schools" — 7News/WJLA, Nov. 2025. See also Bethesda Today.
  6. "Montgomery Co. Public Schools loses out on $39M in funding due to a submission error" — WUSA9, Oct. 2024.
  7. "Staffing shortages push MCPS summer school program students online" — Bethesda Magazine, June 30, 2022.
  8. "95% of special education teacher positions filled, MCPS says" — Bethesda Magazine, Sept. 15, 2025.
  9. "Law firm investigating MCPS has previously worked for it" — The Washington Post, Aug. 2023.
  10. "Statement From Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando on the OIG Report Related to MCPS Principal Beidleman" — Montgomery County, Dec. 2023.
  11. "MCPS official tampered with investigation of principal, report says" — The Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2023.
  12. "Misconduct case against former Montgomery Co. principal is costing taxpayers millions" — WJLA, July 2024.
  13. "Former MCPS principal Beidleman out amidst controversy and ongoing investigations" — Fox 5 DC, Jan. 25, 2024.

Updates · From the Committee

The Jawando Record: The Truth Hurts

By Jonathan Robinson and Eric Saul, Affordable Maryland PAC · May 2026

Will Jawando doesn't like our ad criticizing his record on the Montgomery County Council. The truth is that we didn't enjoy making it, but we didn't feel like we had a choice.

Jawando started out promising to be a different kind of leader, the sort of politician whose positive energy and willingness to support bold ideas had us excited about the possibilities for his future and for our community. But after eight years of seeing Jawando in action on the County Council, the last three as chair of the Education and Culture Committee, and all eight as a member of the Planning, Housing, and Parks Committee, we've seen enough.

Montgomery County today faces a shrinking economy, higher taxes, and weak housing production, in part due to the poorly considered policies advanced by Councilmember Jawando. In an election season where concerns about affordability are rightly placed front and center, it's clear to us that Montgomery County can't afford to give Jawando a "promotion" to County Executive.

Housing: Jawando rushed to be first to introduce missing middle zoning reform, then worked just as hard to become its leading opponent.

On December 8, 2020, Jawando introduced Zoning Text Amendment 20-07, a proposal to legalize duplexes, townhouses, and small multi-family buildings in single-family zones within one mile of every Metrorail station in the county. He packaged it with rent stabilization under the banner "More Housing for More People."[1] Jawando made it clear that he wanted to stake his claim as the leading supporter of missing middle housing, rushing to introduce it before Hans Reimer, a colleague who also supported zoning reform, could introduce a similar bill.

In January 2025, though, with a primary campaign just months away, Jawando became the first councilmember to publicly oppose missing middle housing reform.[2] He issued a statement calling for an indefinite "pause,"[3] citing his own 2020 ZTA in the same paragraph that abandoned it. The leader of the missing middle movement was now firmly aligned with anti-growth activists who wanted — and got — his commitment to oppose the very zoning reforms he had championed.

When the Council took up ZTA 25-02[4] — the workforce-housing bill at the center of the More Housing N.O.W. package, which legalized duplexes, triplexes, and small apartments along major corridors — Jawando was one of three no votes. It passed 8-3.

When the Council took up the University Boulevard Corridor Plan in December 2025,[5] the most significant supply expansion of the term, opening more than 170 single-family-zoned properties to missing middle and expanding mixed-use along 3.5 miles of transit corridor, Jawando voted no. The plan passed 7-3. A month earlier, in committee, he had been the lone no vote.[6]

When zoning reform seemed to be picking up steam, Jawando wanted to lead it. When it became clear that it would antagonize homeowners' associations, he abandoned it.

Rent stabilization: well-intentioned in theory, disastrous in practice.

In 2023, Jawando co-sponsored Montgomery County's rent stabilization law with Councilmember Mink and County Executive Elrich.[7] Whatever you thought about the idea at the time, the result is now measurable, and it should worry anyone who cares about housing supply.

The county's own planning department identifies the rent stabilization law as the single most-cited barrier to new multifamily construction — mentioned by 11 of 14 developers interviewed.[8] Multifamily building permits in Montgomery County have collapsed, falling 97% since the law took effect.[9] The mechanism is not mysterious: lenders underwrite apartment projects on projected cash flows. When statutory caps make those flows uncertain, investors walk away, and apartments don't get built. Interest rates and construction costs matter too, but other jurisdictions facing identical rate and cost conditions have not seen their pipelines crater this way.

A rent stabilization law that prices new apartments out of existence is not a tenant-protection law. It is a supply-suppression law, and it has had devastating effects on Montgomery's ability to deliver new housing and bolster its economy.

Taxes: a framework in April, the opposite vote in May.

On April 27, 2026, weeks from the election, Jawando released an FY27 budget framework built on five "core protections."[10] Two were explicit: no property tax rate increase, and preservation of the Income Tax Offset Credit (ITOC), the $692 credit that reduces property tax bills for roughly 192,000 Montgomery County homeowners.

Three weeks later, on May 15, the Council passed the FY27 operating budget straw vote, 9-2.[11] Jawando voted yes. That budget abolished the ITOC, raising every one of those 192,000 homeowners' property tax bills by $692. He had earlier voted against a standalone repeal, but the May 15 package contained the repeal, and he voted for the package.

By our count, Jawando has championed, co-sponsored, or voted for six separate proposals to raise taxes in Montgomery County since 2020, including a 2020 income tax increase,[12] a 2023 recordation tax increase on the sale of housing,[13] and a 2025 income tax increase.[14] He once voted against a property tax increase — but only because he thought it wasn't big enough. See the Taxes page for itemized sourcing on each.

Suppressed housing supply narrows the tax base. A narrower base means more reliance on a tax increase. Tax increases raise the cost of living, drive out residents and employers, and narrow the base further. Total Montgomery County employment remains thousands of jobs below its 2019 peak. The county has lost tens of thousands of prime-working-age (25-54) residents since 2015. The Fuller Institute measured the growth of Montgomery's Gross Regional Product at 0.2% from 2017 to 2022.[15] Fairfax grew 20.8%, and Loudoun grew 25.9% over the same period. In December 2025, the county projected an $854 million revenue shortfall over the next six years.[16]

Abolishing a property tax credit that benefits hundreds of thousands of homeowners three weeks after promising to protect it is what the end of that cycle looks like. The budget Jawando supported raises taxes, dips into emergency reserves, and raids a retiree health care fund while leaving a $293 million structural deficit that digs the County into a deep hole just as the region's economy is starting to sputter in the wake of DOGE cuts to the federal workforce.[17]

Education: outcomes moving the wrong way on Jawando's watch.

Jawando has chaired the Education and Culture Committee — the Council's oversight body for MCPS — since December 2022. The MCPS graduation rate fell from 91.85% to 88.77% between the Classes of 2024 and 2025.[18] On the 2023-24 state MCAP assessment, 54.9% of third graders were proficient in English Language Arts — meaning roughly half could not read at grade level.[19]

The same period brought a string of governance failures: a Washington Post investigation of a mishandled principal misconduct case at Paint Branch High School (a principal promoted despite 18 internal complaints over seven years),[20] and an inspector general report on $1 million spent without proper Board of Education approval.[21] Jawando has positioned himself as the leading supporter of MCPS, but when things go wrong, he is nowhere to be found.

Where to read more.

Will Jawando likes to get in front of a popular cause, whether it's affordable housing or public schools. When it comes to taking responsibility for getting results, he's less enthusiastic. Our ad is tough, but it is accurate and fair. If you want to dig into the details, we have documented the record issue by issue throughout this site. Every claim is sourced, dated, and linked to original reporting. If you think we have a fact wrong, the link to the source is right there.

Take a look for yourself. If you think it raises important questions about whether Will Jawando is what we need in a County Executive, send the link to a friend or neighbor. On June 23, the primary ballot offers choices. It's okay to vote no on Jawando.

Sources

  1. "Montgomery County can't afford a 'pause' on housing reform" — Greater Greater Washington.
  2. "Mink Joins Jawando in Opposing Attainable Housing" — Montgomery Perspective, Jan. 10, 2025.
  3. "Jawando wants pause on attainable housing plan" — Bethesda Magazine, Jan. 7, 2025.
  4. ZTA 25-02 Council vote record — Chevy Chase Village.
  5. "University Boulevard Corridor Plan approved" — The Baltimore Banner.
  6. "Controversial University Boulevard Corridor Plan advances" — Bethesda Magazine, Nov. 11, 2025.
  7. "Council Passes Bill to Stabilize Rent" — MyMCMedia, 2023.
  8. "Montgomery Planning presents preliminary findings of Development Pipeline Analysis" — Montgomery Planning, 2025.
  9. "Low multifamily building permits, MoCo planners say" — Bethesda Magazine, Aug. 11, 2025.
  10. "Jawando Releases Plan to Balance Budget With No Property Tax Increase" — Montgomery Perspective, Apr. 27, 2026.
  11. "County Council straw approval of FY27 budget" — Bethesda Magazine, May 15, 2026.
  12. "State bills would let Montgomery Co. raise some income taxes" — WTOP, Feb. 2020.
  13. "Recordation tax increase OK'd for homes sold over $600,000" — Bethesda Magazine, May 11, 2023.
  14. "Montgomery County considers income tax hike" — WUSA9, 2025.
  15. "Regional Economic Output from 2017 to 2022" — Stephen S. Fuller Institute, Jan. 29, 2024.
  16. "Montgomery County projects $854 million less in revenues over 6 years" — WTOP, Dec. 2025.
  17. "Five things to know about Montgomery County's budget" — The Baltimore Banner. Notes the $293 million structural deficit projection.
  18. "MCPS graduation rates fall" — Bethesda Magazine, Jan. 28, 2026.
  19. "MCPS MCAP scores" — Bethesda Magazine, Sept. 12, 2024.
  20. "MCPS official tampered with investigation of principal, report says" — The Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2023.
  21. "Report finds MCPS spent $1M without board of education approval" — Fox 5 DC.