Montgomery County’s top officials have lost one more battle in their long struggle to stop the state from inflicting a $46 million fine on the public school system.
Now, unless the General Assembly passes legislation to spare the schools, Superintendent Jerry Weast and his team will need to chop more money from an already meager 2010 budget.
The fine, which has yet to be finalized by the State Board of Education, would result from the county’s failure last year to fund the school system at the same level as the year before, as required by Maryland law. In fact, the county met the school system’s request, but used some fancy bookkeeping to meet the state’s full requirements under the law.
In late December, County Executive Isiah Leggett and Council President Nancy Floreen sent a desperate-sounding plea to state schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick begging her to reconsider the decision regarding the funding.
The penalty “would be indefensible,” the letter said, explaining that the school system had exceeded its legally mandated funding requirements in years past and should not be held to a standard of generosity that was possible in better economic times.
“Under these extreme financial circumstances, Montgomery County, despite its historic support of MCPS, will not be able to rescue MCPS from the consequences of your decision,” Leggett and Floreen wrote.
Grasmick was unmoved.
“The statute that governs … does not provide for a retrospective analysis of [funding-level] compliance to support a finding of compliance in the current year,” she responded.
She promised to refer the matter to the State Board of Education, which so far has showed little sympathy to the county.
The school system’s last hope is with the General Assembly, which likely will consider legislation to address the issue. Several other counties, including Prince George’s, are facing similar funding quandaries.
The Maryland Association of Boards of Education is helping to craft a bill that would grant counties a waiver for last year’s funding shortfalls, thereby erasing the threat of a penalty.
