By any measure, education is a top budget priority in Montgomery County. It spends $15,582 per student on its award-winning public school system — the second-highest per pupil expenditure in the nation. But a newly revised state education funding law is punishing Montgomery taxpayers for their generosity.
In April, Gov. Martin O’Malley signed a bill to eliminate “loopholes” in Maryland’s Maintenance of Effort Law. The law is now forcing county officials to give their perfectly well-funded school system an additional $30 million in fiscal 2014, regardless of the need. The County Council’s Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee reports that with a $71 million budget deficit looming for 2014, $30 million will have to come at the expense of other county services.
