Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s 2011 budget plan could axe dozens of after-school programs tailored to special needs children across the state, according to a report from the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families.
Under O’Malley’s proposal, the Governor’s Office for Children would open up a competitive campaign for $15.7 million in children’s services funding previously administered to 24 local agencies across the state.
The measure would cut administrative funding for the local agencies — called Local Management Boards — by nearly 70 percent and add five positions to the state office. In turn, the state office would prioritize local needs for at-risk children and select programs to address those needs.
Opposition to O’Malley’s changes is unanimous in the Budget and Taxation Committee following testimony from Montgomery County’s Local Management Board, said Sen. Nancy King, D-Gaithersburg.
“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” King said. “We worked so hard for so many years to build [the board] up to what it is … and now we’re basically cutting the guts out of it.”
In Montgomery County, the proposal could wipe out 35 after-school programs serving more than 1,000 children and cut more than 80 jobs, said Kathleen Lally, executive director of the county’s board.
O’Malley’s proposal includes a list a pre-approved, “evidence-based” programs deemed eligible for funding. Many of Montgomery’s programs are omitted from that list.
Lally noted the list is lacking in preventative services designed to keep at-risk kids from getting into trouble.
“Prevention reduces the cost of these programs over time,” she said. “That’s what is so disturbing.”
But O’Malley spokesman Shaun Adamec said the proposal would increase accountability and efficiency.
“If anything, it makes the process far more efficient to better serve children,” he said. He encouraged the local boards to compete for grants with eligible programs and said the boards still would oversee programs that win grants from the state.
