Thornton wants checks on aid program

Alvin Thornton?s last name has become synonymous in Annapolis with the aid program that will pump $4.3 billion into Maryland public schools next year.

Thornton told The Examiner Thursday that it is “premature” to conclude that the infusionof money is not being spent to help the neediest students, as some advocates for disadvantaged children have charged. But he said another commission, like the one he chaired, will evaluate Thornton comprehensively, especially since fiscal 2008 culminates the five years of increases in education funding his panel recommended.