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.