Top Maryland officials from the voter-rich Washington suburbs were politicking for Gov. Martin O’Malley on Wednesday, claiming Bob Ehrlich’s proposed 2 percent cut in education funding would “devastate” the region.
Republican former Gov. Bob Ehrlich says if he wins the election, he would save the state roughly $126 million by axing a formula that gives extra state dollars to counties where education is more expensive. The formula, called the Geographic Cost of Education Index, was passed by the General Assembly in 2002 and is not required by state law. Ehrlich never funded it during his four-year term, and O’Malley only fully funded it in 2009 and 2010, with the help of federal stimulus money.
But officials from Prince George’s and Montgomery counties are now saying those two years of extra funding are essential to the functioning of their school systems.
“We can’t roll the dice with our children,” said Rushern Baker, the presumptive Prince George’s County executive, at a Wednesday meeting rallying against Ehrlich’s proposal. “We’re going to fight to have every dollar we need and rally the state to say how important it is and how hurtful it would be.”
Prince George’s County Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said losing that money — which is 2.4 percent of the county’s $1.6 billion fiscal school budget — would lay off 140 staff members. Ehrlich has said he would not furlough state workers, including teachers, if he is elected in November.
“This is the beginning right here,” warned Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett. “[Of] larger class sizes, teachers retiring, teachers leaving….”
Montgomery last year failed to fund a state-mandated education formula requiring the county to pump more money into public education each year.
In the same year, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties received more than half of the state’s $126 million in funding for the Geographic Cost of Education Index.
Prince George’s received the most state money, with $38.6 million, and Montgomery came in second with $31.4 million.
Cutting the index out of Maryland’s budget is part of Ehrlich’s plan to pay for a 1 percent decrease in the state’s sales tax. The tax cut would cost the state roughly $648 million in the next fiscal year, when Maryland will face a shortfall greater than $1 billion. Montgomery is grappling with a $145 million budget hole and Prince George’s deficit is rounding out to $51 million.
