ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to shift part of the expense of teacher pensions to Maryland counties prompted lawmakers on Friday to question whether the added cost should be factored into a state law that requires counties to maintain a certain amount of spending on schools.
Under O'Malley's plan, about $239 million in new county expenses would not apply to their maintenance of effort requirements.
Delegate Theodore Sophocleus, D-Anne Arundel, questioned why the added pension expense would not be factored in when determining whether a county was meeting the requirement.
"If the shift is going to the county and the county will be responsible for paying the cost, it seems to me that that would probably lead to the MOE being adjusted to absorb that change," Sophocleus said during a joint meeting of the House Appropriations Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.
Mark Collins, an analyst with the state's nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services, pointed out that lawmakers could consider changes as they deliberate over the governor's budget proposal.
"I think we're a long way away from knowing exactly how it will all play out and whether or not there will be some sort of overlap with maintenance of effort," Collins said. "As the bill stands right now, the counties will pay those costs and there's no change to maintenance of effort."
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3 comments:
we just lost 3.8 million for bennett
We just got a bill for 3.8 from O'Malley.
And, if we had 40 some million coming our way for Bennett, and lost 3.8, does that mean we still have 36 million we can finally use for A/C at BMS?
What O'Malley doesn't know how to keep a nice budget so his cutting school funds and raising taxes so he can goof around. I wonder when we would have a president who would cut the cost of paying congressman because they keep giving themselves a raise each year so they get about 5,000 extra dollars they don't need literally most congressman became multimillionaires after they became a congressman.
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