Today’s Gazette details the complicated interplay between the Governor’s proposed shift of teacher pension costs, and the maintenance of effort laws underlying state/county school funding.
From the article:
Groups like the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) and the Maryland State Education Association — the state’s top teachers union — with sometimes clashing interests, both are working vigorously with legislators to oppose the pension shift to county governments proposed by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and other top officials.
They also agree that there needs to be new clarity on maintenance of effort, a state law that requires per-pupil spending by counties to be at least at the previous year’s level unless they receive a waiver from the state Board of Education.