Educators throughout Maryland are bracing today for the loss of millions of dollars, and higher education stands to take the biggest hit.
At a Board of Public Works meeting today Gov. Martin O’Malley is expected to propose cutting tens of millions of dollars from education systems, including $30 million from the University System of Maryland and $16 million from community colleges.
“It’s not that we want to cut these things, but we must,” O’Malley said after discussing the budget with the state’s schools superintendents Tuesday in Annapolis.
“We’re looking at … a national economic downturn, the likes of which I certainly haven’t seen in my lifetime.”
The cuts would help make up for a $423 million shortfall in this fiscal year’s budget. The shortfall could reach as much as $1 billion next year.
The cuts come at a time when college enrollments are surging. The struggling economy has sent many workers back to school to try to give themselves a better chance in a job market in which unemployment is rising.
Some community colleges have seen double-digit percentage increases in enrollment.
But O’Malley said the state would keep a freeze on tuition intact for at least the rest of this year. This is the third consecutive year tuition has stayed level in Maryland, but, O’Malley said, the freeze could end in future years.
William “Brit” Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, which oversees 11 colleges and universities and two research institutions, said Maryland is in a better position than most states to handle the economic crisis. The state’s proximity to Washington, D.C. makes it home to a number of federal employers that can help stabilize the economy, he said.
Kirwan imposed a hiring freeze on the system about a month ago. He did not expect the situation to get as bad it was several years ago when the system was forced to fire employees.
O’Malley, meanwhile, said he intended to preserve about $26 million that could have been pulled from public schools.
And though many had feared that the state would also pass a $622 million bill onto local governments for teachers’ pension funds — which would have hit counties that pay teachers more, like Montgomery, even harder — O’Malley said he wanted the state to keep responsibility for the retirement plans to help recruit better teachers.
