House reaches deal to restore some school funds
House leaders plan to restore more than half of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed reductions to education funding, a move that replenishes much of the money cut to Baltimore and Prince George’s County schools.
House Appropriations subcommittee members are set to start voting on the plan in Annapolis. They would shift $58.5 million back to the schools by raising some fees and snipping elsewhere in the $14 billion general fund budget.
“Investment in education is good public policy. It is good economic policy. It puts people on the path to success,” said Speaker Michael E. Busch in an interview this afternoon. The Speaker said the education would not be funded by new taxes.
Busch said his chamber's proposal would also relieve some stress to counties by reversing O’Malley’s proposal to charge them for the costs of collecting property taxes.
The House changes are designed to reaffirm the so-called Thornton formula, an education funding mechanism that has pumped billions of additional dollars into the state’s schools over the last decade but has also driven a soaring structural deficit.
The plan would give back nearly $10 million for kindergarten through 12th grade education in Baltimore, meaning the city would receive $866 million next year from the state. It returns about $13.5 million to Baltimore County and $10 million to Prince George’s County.
House Appropriations subcommittee members are set to start voting on the plan in Annapolis. They would shift $58.5 million back to the schools by raising some fees and snipping elsewhere in the $14 billion general fund budget.
“Investment in education is good public policy. It is good economic policy. It puts people on the path to success,” said Speaker Michael E. Busch in an interview this afternoon. The Speaker said the education would not be funded by new taxes.
Busch said his chamber's proposal would also relieve some stress to counties by reversing O’Malley’s proposal to charge them for the costs of collecting property taxes.
The House changes are designed to reaffirm the so-called Thornton formula, an education funding mechanism that has pumped billions of additional dollars into the state’s schools over the last decade but has also driven a soaring structural deficit.
The plan would give back nearly $10 million for kindergarten through 12th grade education in Baltimore, meaning the city would receive $866 million next year from the state. It returns about $13.5 million to Baltimore County and $10 million to Prince George’s County.
Comments
guess the teachers unions threatened not to vote for Busch again
Posted by: jmm103 | March 15, 2011 3:17 PM
How about limiting the tax exemption for children to just one child, and if you have more than i kid, you don't get a tax break. Then take the money earned from fewer exemptions and apply that towards education funding. More revenue should be something the Dems should love!!
Posted by: Tom | March 15, 2011 3:52 PM
And I thought MD's Assembly was progreen? Here they going throwing a large amount of money down two sewers.
Posted by: didactic1 | March 15, 2011 4:18 PM
Every time I read about the General Assembly searching for funds I think about how they allow special interests - Big liquor distributors and the reactionary MSLBSA (representing mostly tavern owners) - to stand in the way of allowing Maryland wine merchants to ship wine in and out of the state, which would, even in the opinion of Comptroller Franchot, be "revenue positive." In other words, local businesses, employing local workers, would sell more wine, putting more sales tax revenue in the state treasury. What hypocrisy.
Posted by: Mitchell Pressman | March 15, 2011 6:00 PM
By allowing the inflation factor to be cut, the House plan continues a pattern of cutting the Thornton formula that began in the special session of Oct 2007. The original Thornton funding plan was paid for during that session by passing the slots bill, raising taxes and by capping the inflation factor in the Thornton formula to 1%. The actual spending on Thornton is currently $500 million lower every year than what would have been required by the Bridge to Excellent Act of 2002.
The current structural gap in the Maryland budget is caused by the financial crisis and ensuing deep recession - the very same phenomena that have caused the federal deficit to balloon.
Kids attending school today will have to pay that deficit. We should not shortchange them on public education in the same year we are giving millionaires a tax break.
Posted by: Charlie Cooper | March 15, 2011 6:48 PM
How about eliminating the tax breaks for Churches? they take up all the parking in the city, don't pay taes, and dont do diddly for the neighborhoods.
Posted by: Jessix | March 15, 2011 6:51 PM
Too bad for Baltimore City losing Senator Della whose position on the Senate Finance Committe always assured Baltimore City schools that they would get the funds they needed. Now all we have is "empty suit Bill" tweeting from the Senate floor and beating his "education is the ladder "drum all the while voting to give Maryland taxpayer dollars to the children of illegal aliens so that they can attend college on "in state rates." It's only now we learn that without the funds there can be no band. Seems we threw the baby out with the bath water.
Posted by: Tom Flynn | March 15, 2011 9:12 PM