Just 24 hours into the job, Gov. Martin O?Malley has proposed a $30 billion spending plan for fiscal 2008 that grows the state budget by only 2.5 percent, a spending increase lower than those in nine out of the last 10 years.

His proposal uses nearly $1 billion from the rainy day fund to help balance a budget and help fund a $680 million increase in aid to K-12 education, the final year of spending increases mandated by the Thornton “Bridge to Excellence” program.