Jan. 26, 2012
Sen. George C. Edwards (R-Dist. 1) and Del. Wendell R. Beitzel (R-Dist. 1A) announced yesterday that they will pursue a statewide legislative effort that would cap losses of state funding for K-12 education incurred by Garrett and Allegany counties.
Gov. Martin O’Malley’s fiscal year 2013 budget includes a 5.5 percent cut in funding for Allegany County and an 11.8 percent cut in funding for Garrett County. This is on top of the approximately 6 percent cut that these two jurisdictions took in funding during the FY 2012 budget.
“The state really needs to look at how the wealth formula is computed,” Edwards said. “This bill would be a benefit to Garrett and Allegany counties and potentially others if we can get it passed. It would also give the state time to study how we compute wealth for K-12 education and look at appropriate various changes to the formula.”
This is the second year in a row that Garrett and Allegany counties have received the largest cuts in K-12 education funding for the state, the senator noted. The state’s portion of education funding is based on a formula commonly referred to as the “wealth formula” and student enrollment. These two factors are used to calculate the money that is distributed statewide for the educational needs of the counties.
“The futures of the children of Garrett and Allegany counties are being jeopardized due to massive losses in state funding for education,” said Beitzel.
During the 2011 legislative session, Edwards and Beitzel led legislative efforts to cap the losses a local jurisdiction receives in education based on the wealth formula. That bill was met with opposition from the O’Malley administration.
The western Maryland legislators, however, convinced other lawmakers to include extra education funding for Garrett and Allegany counties in FY 2012. This funding was included the passage of the alcohol tax. That funding, however, was good for only one year.
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