More News

A recent opinion from the Maryland attorney general that Montgomery County broke a state law when working around minimum funding requirements for education demonstrates a clear need for rapid reform.

The law, known as maintenance of effort, requires that local jurisdictions provide at least the same level of education funding as the previous year. It is fairly inflexible — even during a recession, when revenues are down. This is especially difficult for Montgomery County, which, according to County Executive Ike Leggett, has provided the school system with nearly $577 million beyond the maintenance-of-effort minimums over the past decade.

By acting as good stewards of education, county leaders set themselves up for a harder fall when the recession hit. Consider that even in the current fiscal year, the school system is better off financially than other agencies — Montgomery County's fiscal 2010 budget is $1.63 billion, down 0.5 percent from fiscal 2009; the school system's budget is $2.2 billion, up 6.5 percent.

The Maryland Association of Counties is working on legislation to reform maintenance of effort, allowing space to maneuver when budgets get tight. Education unions are likely to be the loudest protestors, but school employees understand broad financial difficulties — for example, in Montgomery County last year, employees were willing to give up cost-of-living allowance increases.

Until reform comes, however, the County Council and Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jerry Weast are gearing up for what will likely be a bitter battle over the fiscal 2011 budget. Last week, Weast made comments that demonstrate a lack of cooperative spirit at a time when all governments are struggling to make ends meet. His words could further deteriorate relations with the council.

The problems began last spring, after state officials denied a request from the school board and County Council for a maintenance-of-effort waiver. The county had been hoping to reduce payments to the school system by $80 million, an amount compensated in part by federal stimulus money and a $24 million state payment for an incorrect calculation from fiscal 2009. When the waiver was denied, the county turned to clever accounting — it ponied up the cash, but directed the school system to pay debt service for capital projects, an expense that the county had been covering.

Through this point, everyone seemed to be on board — the County Council was able to save $80 million, and the school board and Weast had a fully-funded budget. But, as with most negotiations, there was something unpleasant lurking in the details. Weast, whose initial proposal that the school system hold the $80 million in reserve to use for the next fiscal year had been denied, wanted language in the agreement clearly stating the plan would be effective for one year only. The County Council had reservations about being bound to that in the future and removed the wording.

Fast forward to last week, when Weast issued the following comments after the attorney general's ruling: "In the end, we had a solution pushed upon us that, it turns out, was illegal. I guess no good deed goes unpunished ... I can promise you this: We will have a full Maintenance of Effort budget in fiscal year 2011. Never again, will we put our employees and students in this position."

Weast's reaction is not strange, considering that he had made several attempts to negotiate with the county to avoid breaking the maintenance of effort law. In fact, the attorney general's opinion notes that Wicomico County, which employed Weast's preferred method of holding the money for a year, acted legally.

It's certainly one of Weast's duties to fight for his staff and for students, but his statement is being taken by some county officials as more of an assault than advocacy. Weast's reaction is in part due to the possibility of being fined for violating the law — the school system expects Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick to levy a fine between $16 million and $64 million. Cringing at that is understandable, but the council is now faced with a superintendent steadfast on getting every dollar that is due, and a budget deficit for fiscal 2011 that is projected to be nearly $400 million.

Weast may well get the funding he wants after he submits his budget proposal in December, but that would mean the county must make significant cuts to other services, including police, fire and rescue, and parks and recreation. For residents, County Council members sparring with Weast will only lead to a battered quality of life.

For his part, Leggett is focused on changing the state laws. With such a broad and evident need, that seems likely, but revisions won't come for months. Until then, Leggett says, Weast or the council may win this particular budget battle, but the gains are limited. "You have to be careful about throwing down the gauntlet and not working cooperatively, or the war will go on for years," he said.