State Passes 'Doomsday' Budget, Massive School Cuts
After General Assembly's failure to vote on key budget measures after a 90-day session, Gov. Martin O'Malley could call a special session to avert deep cuts.
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The Maryland General Assembly ended its session Monday at midnight without taking action on key revenue measures and passing a budget that will require $512 million in cuts beginning July 1.
The rancorous end to the session left Gov. Martin O'Malley and House Speaker Mike Busch fuming with their fellow Democrat, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr.
The Washington Post called the end of the Democratically-controlled General Assembly's 90-day session at midnight on Monday a "stunning collapse."
The Baltimore Sun said the session ended in "disarray."
Maryland Reporter's Len Lazarick wrote:
"O’Malley and House Speaker Michael Busch both blamed Senate President Mike Miller’s insistence on a gaming measure for Prince George’s County for holding up action. But others, including delegates and senators on the conference committee, said the hard philosophical positions on both sides played a role."
Many lawmakers said O'Malley would likely call a special session to tackle the tax measures that were mostly not voted on before the $35.6 billion balanced budget was passed as required by law. But as the Maryland Reporter video shows, a visibly angry O'Malley made no such announcement early Tuesday morning.
According to the Washington Post, "Without passing any further instructions on spending or revenue, the state would be required to make more than $512 million in funding reductions to schools and state programs beginning July 1." It would be the "first time in two decades" that the state's lawmakers ended the 90-day session with work remaining on the budget, the paper reported.
In Baltimore County, as Patch's Bryan Sears reported, the abrupt end of the session killed the hopes of many that a partially-elected school board bill was going to receive a vote.
The Washington Post reported that: "Cuts to classrooms, libraries and police in Prince George’s would top $65 million, adding 50 percent to the county’s projected shortfall. Montgomery County would lose over $41 million, exacerbating its budget gap by a similar margin."
The Washington Post reported that the budget passed Monday "would cut 10 percent, or more than $60 million from higher education, likely necessitating higher tuition increases at state universities and local community colleges."
"Funding for grade school students," The Post reported, "would also be reduced by $111 per pupil. And grants to the state’s largest school districts would be cut entirely, accounting for nearly $129 million."
Stay with Patch for more details.
bob martin
6:25 am on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
It is just amazing that so many representatives of all parties are so willing to let all these problems go unresolved .
Sean Sheppard
6:40 am on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
How do they expect students to succeed in a world that expects them to know more when they are given less to work with. Maybe the should trim the fat off their salaries or their special interests instead of the education experience. Otherwise they next budget they'll have to increase is the correctional budget.
Dick
1:15 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Maybe it is time for Maryland start living within its means the way most residents do.
JH
1:15 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Taxes are already way too high in Maryland. Too much waste and fraud in Maryland Medicaid and other programs. And too many freeloaders and deadbeats that don't pay any state income taxes. Just say no to higher taxes.
TaL
1:15 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
$111 per pupil works out to less than a 1% cut
I fail to see in this economic climate how that is signifigant relative to the cuts the rest of us have had to take in our salaries
Rahul Mereand-Sinha
1:15 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Blame Sen Miller; his obstructionism has been a fixture of state politics for a decade. Gay marriage, gas taxes, or Plan Maryland, he's remained out of step with the rest of the caucus.
Daniel Grossberg
1:15 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Remember to vote Democrat, blue MD! This is not the failing of one night or one session but the culmination of a generation of neglect.
Jeff Hawkins
11:54 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
@Daniel
Thanks for the chuckles..........
Andy
1:15 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
From Del. Michael Smigiel's Facebook:
"I need the help of everyone who reads or posts on this site. I need you to call the media, radio, TV and newspapers around the State and make sure they stop reporting the "Doomsday Budget" means "deep cuts in services". The simple fact is the "Doomsday Budget" is $400 million more than last year's budget. How can cut's be necessary when you grew the size of the budget by 400 million dollars? O'Malley is trying to spin this as some great tragedy for entitlements and education. It is an opportunity to show fiscal restraint and responsibility."
Thank God that at least one Delegate in the Maryland Legislature gets it!! More spending is not always the answer! Especially when you do not have the revenue to offset it.
Susan Byrne
1:15 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
According to The Maryland Public Policy Institute (January 18, 2011) "Maryland spends on public education like a Saudi prince in Tiffany's. According to an analysis of data from the Annual Survey of State Government Finances from the U.S. Census Bureau, all education spending accounted for 47 percent of Maryland's total revenue in 2009, the most recent year available. Health spending, which is always cited as the monster in the state budget, ate 9 percent of total revenue in 2009. By comparison, public education represented 26 percent of total revenue in 2000."
http://www.mdpolicy.org/research/detail/marylands-secret-education-spending-spree
School District Revenue & Expenditure Patterns for all states are available here for an interesting survey of how Maryland compares to the rest of the nation: http://proximityone.com/sdfa.htm
How do they expect students to succeed in an educational system that values achieving scores far above learning about and understanding the world they live in?
Corbin Dallas Multipass
11:54 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
That is interesting reading Susan, thanks. It's really interesting since the State was trying to pass the pension budgets off to the counties, and this explains why:
"In a March 2010 policy paper, Cato's Adam Schaeffer found that per-pupil spending in the nation's five largest metro areas and Washington, D.C., was 44 percent higher than officially reported because debt service, employee benefits and capital costs were not included in official per-pupil spending figures."
Some additional interesting stats: http://www.msubillings.edu/caer/quality_rankings_of_education_in.htm
Beth
11:40 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
If you research MD's current educational costs per pupil, you'll find we're no prince among the spenders. NY spends around 25K per pupil and DC around 22K per pupil. Montgomery County, on the other hand, like many other jurisdictions in the area, spends approximately 12.5K per pupil. Education has been cut far more than any other entity or agency over the past 3 years and we cannot continue to bear the brunt of the fiscal calamities affecting state coffers. You did not mention the fact that public education enrollment figures are at an all-time high due to the economy. So, why beat up on government spending for education, when it's federally mandated that we provide free and appropriate public education to youth? After just arriving in Montgomery County and running for the Board of Education, I thought you'd know a little more about the many successes we enjoy here in MD pubilc schools and how the little above-average per pupil costs we spend go far to make our education #1 in the nation. BTW @Corbin - school districts publish their base costs per pupil, exclusive of debt service, benes and CIP costs. This is not an anomaly unto Maryland. Just read Cato Institute's research on per pupil spending and you'll see we're not alone on this.
Roald Schrack
1:15 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
A disgraceful abdication of responsibility.
jnrentz1
11:54 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Did anyone really expect more from the Maryland Circus? I hoped for more, but the Maryland Circus lived down to my low expectations.
My fellow commentators have it correct:
"It is just amazing that so many representatives of all parties are so willing to let all these problems go unresolved."
"Maybe the should trim the fat off their salaries or their special interests instead of the education experience."
"Maybe it is time for Maryland start living within its means the way most residents do."
"Taxes are already way too high in Maryland. Too much waste and fraud in Maryland Medicaid and other programs."
"I fail to see in this economic climate how that is significant relative to the cuts the rest of us have had to take in our salaries."
"Blame Sen Miller; his obstructionism has been a fixture of state politics for a decade."
"Remember to vote Democrat, blue MD! This is not the failing of one night or one session but the culmination of a generation of neglect."
"More spending is not always the answer! Especially when you do not have the revenue to offset it."
"A disgraceful abdication of responsibility."
Milton
11:54 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
$512 million in a $31.5 billion budget. Um, that's 1.6% of the budget. Given that the state budget has grown 33% over the last six years, that doesn't seem very 'doomsday' to me.
Don O'Neill
11:54 am on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Disarray, stunning collapse... these are words you expect to hear describing negotiations in Washington between Republican and Democrats from disparate parts of the country.
To hear them describing the proceedings of Democrats in Annapolis is beyond the pale.
Rocky
11:40 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012
Don ---What are you talking about ?---we are in the position because of the Democrat credo of tax and spend ---People are fed up ---O'Malley might want to run for Pres in '16 ,but his dem friends want to be elected in '14.
JH
3:01 pm on Thursday, April 12, 2012
Obama and O' Malley = Oh no ! Tax and spend liberals gone wild.
Time for new leadership in Washington and Annapolis.
Daniel Grossberg
7:13 pm on Thursday, April 12, 2012
If the plan is to spend more next year than this year, why is it called doomsday?