The Daily Record, picking up coverage from Capital News service, includes discussion of the recently introduced maintenance of effort reform proposals. From the coverage:
Under the bill, counties that can’t match the previous year’s funding would be required to apply for a waiver, which would exempt the county from matching for one year.
“It’s going to provide some stability and predictability to the school system,” said Del. John L. Bohanan Jr., D-St. Mary’s, who co-sponsored the bill.
The bill also attempts to fix problems associated with rebasing, which occurs when counties’ contributions reset after they fail to meet their yearly funding expectation and don’t apply for a waiver.
The bill would allow a county to reset its baseline of school funding if it can prove to the State Board of Education that it is unable to make the payment, or if it paid extra in previous years.
“If you’ve gone over your maintenance of effort funding, like Montgomery County has, then that should be recognized,” Bohanan said.
However, waivers or rebasing options would not be granted to counties that have not made a satisfactory effort, which would be determined by the State Board of Education.
“Essentially, good actors would be given room to rebase their funding, but we would not want counties that underfund education to be allowed to rebase,” said Del. Anne R. Kaiser, D-Montgomery, who co-sponsored the bill.
