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The Montgomery County Board of Education, confronted with a County Council decision to pare spending next year by 1.7 percent, unveiled a series of budget-balancing options this week that eliminate elementary art and music programs, increase class sizes and renege on previously negotiated pay raises. The County Council's action effectively forces the school system to decide whether it will live up to its agreement to give employees a 2.7 percent cost-of-living pay increase next year. That could require cutting programs or increasing class size. A $15.3 million cut is roughly equivalent to eliminating 300 staff positions or increasing class size system-wide by 2.6 students. Council members recommended that the school system absorb the shortfall by giving employees only a 2 percent cost-of-living increase next year. But [Beatrice B.] Gordon said that decision would be difficult because the same County Council approved pay raises for other county employees ranging from 2.9 percent to 3.75 percent.

The Montgomery County Board of Education elected Nancy J. King president and Beatrice B. Gordon vice president last night.

The increase in class size will average seven-tenths of a student but will be slightly higher at the high school level than in the middle and elementary grades. It was approved on a 7 to 1 vote, despite opposition from County Council members and the county's Council of Parent Teacher Associations. The average high school class currently has 26 students. By increasing class sizes, board members were able to avoid cutting positions in art, music and physical education programs that had been targeted for elimination by Superintendent Paul L. Vance. They also kept funding for the English as a Second Language and Head Start programs. However, 121 classroom positions originally included in Vance's budget were cut to comply with a County Council mandate that the school system reduce its proposed $893.5 million budget by $15.3 million, or 1.7 percent. Montgomery County traditionally has enjoyed one of the highest staff-to-pupil ratios among large school systems in Maryland. According to a 1994 Maryland Department of Education survey, the county provides nearly 61.8 teachers and 14 teacher aides per 1,000 students, compared with a statewide average of 59.8 and 9.5 respectively. Prince George's County schools had 56.4 teachers and 7.4 aides per 1,000 students.

Incumbent Beatrice B. Gordon and PTA leader Daniel Parr topped a crowded field on the primary ballot last night and will meet in a November general election runoff for the at-large seat on the Montgomery County school board. Gordon was the lead vote-getter with 27.7 percent of the ballots cast, and Parr, 44, a management consultant with strong backing from school unions, won 23.3 percent. He will bring to the race the support of Montgomery's 8,000-member teachers union and the endorsement of the county's longest-serving school board member, Blair G. Ewing (4th District). Ewing is unopposed in his bid for an unprecedented sixth four-year term on the county Board of Education. A third contest pits board member Stephen N. Abrams (2nd District), a lobbyist, against Mona Signer, a former vice president for the Montgomery County Council of PTAs. They will be on the Nov. 5 ballot.

As they consider the plan for the as-yet-unnamed high school and for Sherwood, Springbrook and Paint Branch high schools, Montgomery officials are not alone in searching for ways to make parents feel more in control of their children's academic lives. District officials are considering several voucher plans to allow students to attend the public or private city schools of their choice. Next fall, Arlington will give parents more freedom to request transfers into new schools, and families in northeast Arlington will be allowed to choose among four elementary schools. Montgomery Board of Education President Beatrice B. Gordon said the proposal could help the county deal with its own urban pressures. But she said the plan's chief attraction is that it would force the participating high schools to develop distinctive academic programs -- thus making them \"signature schools\" -- to lure prospective students away from their neighborhoods and voluntarily integrate the public schools.

In this year's election for the Montgomery County Board of Education, only one of three seats on the ballot drew enough contenders to warrant a primary. But that one race could influence the direction of future board deliberations. \"There's a lot at stake in this race,\" said board member Beatrice B. Gordon, whose at-large seat is the only one of three up for grabs in Tuesday's primary. \"I'm not taking anything for granted.\" Of the three board slots up for election this year, one is uncontested. Barring an improbable write-in upset, board member Blair G. Ewing (4th District) is virtually assured an unprecedented sixth four-year term, dating to 1976. Board member Stephen N. Abrams (2nd District) is being challenged by Mona Signer, who served as the PTA's vice president for education issues before deciding to run. The at-large race, however, boasts six candidates. The top two vote-getters in the primary will face off in the general election.

With the exception of one school board race, Montgomery County voters opted largely to maintain the status quo in this election, turning back controversial ballot measures to cut taxes and consolidate fire and rescue services and reelecting both of the county's congressional representatives by wide margins. Tuesday's election marked the third successive time that county voters have rejected ballot questions orchestrated by Bethesda lawyer Robin Ficker to reduce income or property taxes. But yesterday, Ficker already was making plans for another ballot proposal in 1998. Ficker said he may take a different approach and place a ballot question similar to the successful Question I that was on the Prince George's County ballot, which requires approval of all county tax increases by referendum. Ficker even pulled a campaign sign supporting the Prince George's measure to keep as a souvenir and possible model.

Voters unseated school board members in Montgomery and Prince George's counties yesterday and turned aside an attempt by conservatives to take control of the Charles County Board of Education. With more than half the ballots counted last night, Montgomery County school board member Stephen N. Abrams (2nd District) had 46 percent and conceded defeat to former Potomac PTA leader Mona Signer, with 54 percent. The two incumbents were the only ones to lose in the close-in Washington suburbs yesterday. Thomas R. Hendershot (District 4), 52, and Kenneth E. Johnson (District 6), 42, easily won reelection to the nine-member Prince George's school board.

Survivors include sisters-in-law, Hazel Bockhaus of Des Moines, Iowa, and Mary Katherine Bockhaus of Dubuque, Iowa; nieces, Mary Annette Duchein of Baton Rouge, La., Barbara Klaas and husband, Paul, of Minneapolis, Minn.; nephews, John Robert Werning of Aspen, Colo., and Thomas Bockhaus and wife, Carol, of Urbandale, Iowa; great-nieces and nephews, Jay Bockhaus and wife, Gabriela, of New York, and Kimberly and Chip Collins of Atlanta. Survivors include her daughter, Betty Whitaker and her husband, Bill, of Mountain Home; a son, Richard Rhodes and his wife, Susan, of Hendersonville; beloved grandsons, Paul Whitaker of Mountain Home, Alan Whitaker and his wife, Sherry, of Troutman, Will Rhodes of Hendersonville; two great-grandsons, Blake and Brandon Whitaker; a sister, Mary I. Pitts of California; and several nieces and nephews. A funeral will be held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in Thos. Shepherd's Church Street Chapel. The Rev. Dr. Tim Porter and Richard Rhodes will officiate. Burial will follow in Shepherd Memorial Park.

She leaves to cherish her precious memories, a son, Archie E. \"Bill\" Myrick ([Jean Myrick]) of Dinwiddie; and daughter, Virginia \"Ann\" Myrick (Sam) of Petersburg; a sister, Daisy Baugh of Petersburg; three stepsons, [Gordon B. \"Scott\" Winfield] (Norma) of Chesterfield, Thurman Winfield \"devoted\" (Frances) of Richmond and Jesse Winfield (Carolyn) of Dinwiddie; three stepdaughters, Loretta Grandison of Stony Creek, Irene Harrison (Jordan) and Jennie Freeman, both of Richmond; daughter-in-law, Paulette Myrick of Petersburg; sister-in-law, Thelma Bonner of Petersburg; grandchildren, Evelyn Walker, Sharon Myrick and Velda Myrick, all of Dinwiddie, Angela Lewis, Grindl Myrick, Marlo Perry and Sherry Myrick, all of Petersburg, Pernia Mason of Colonial Heights, Carlette Jeffries of Richmond and Carlton Mitchell of Petersburg; 16 great-grandchildren;...