After a week rolling out a series of tax increases and cuts, Gov. Martin O?Malley told a roomful of officials late Thursday that he would close a $1.7 billion budget deficit next year and beyond by freezing Thornton school aid funding, saving $400 million over the next two years.
But he was also going to fund the Geographic Cost of Education Index, which would shovel $119 million to jurisdictions with higher costs, such as Baltimore City, Montgomery County and Prince George?s County.
The freeze on the indexing of Thornton spending reverses a repeated campaign promise that “we will fully fund the entire Thornton Commission plan to improve K-12 education across Maryland.”
But O?Malley said that a “little-debated” inflation provision of the commission?s Bridge to Excellence plan made the $1.3 billion increase for schools into a $1.5 billion bump. An estimated 3 percent inflation rate is now above 5 percent.
On school aid, O?Malley told the crowd at an Annapolis elementary school that he did not want to go backward. “We want to go forward,” he said.
Local education officials had not been given advance warning of the governor?s school funding lid. But Kevin Maxwell, superintendent of Anne Arundel County schools, said, “I don?t think he should freeze Thornton for two years.” Maxwell noted that the governor was “proposing” the change in formula that was mandated in law by the General Assembly. “There is a legislature,” Maxwell said.
David Helfman, executive director of the Maryland State Teachers Association, said he would reserve judgment until the organization had had a chance to analyze it.
Much of Bridge to Excellence money has gone into salary increases for teachers and hiring of new teachers. Advocates for children have complained that not enough was directed to improve the learning of low-performing students. (See examiner.com for how the money was spent.)
Betty Morgan, Washington County superintendent of schools who heads the organization of school chiefs in Maryland, praised the governor for the comprehensiveness of the plan. Cecil County Superintendent Carl Roberts said he and the other superintendents would like sit down with O?Malley to discuss education.
The Examiner’s indepth report of Thorton Funding can be read by clicking here.
O?Malley said a special session of the General Assembly was necessary in November to put the tax increases in place by January, producing $669 million that will carry over into 2009 and 2010.
“None of this is going to be easy; all of this is going to be hard,” O?Malley said.
O?Malley plan to plug $1.7 billion deficit hole
» Budget reductions: $437 million
» Higher personal income tax rates: $163 million
» Sales tax increase from 5 to 6 percent: $730 million
» Broaden sales tax to services: $74 million
» Double cigarette tax: $170 million
» Slot machine gambling: $27 million
Increase corporate income tax: $110 million
Close corporate tax “loopholes”: $20 million
Surplus: $316 million
Source: Governor’s office
