MACo Policy Analyst Robin Clark testified to the Ways and Means committee on February 5, in support of HB65, Education-Maintenance of Effort-Lease Payment Exclusion. This bill would exclude lease payments from the State’s education funding Maintenance of Effort (MOE) calculation, just as debt service is currently excluded from this calculation.

MACo’s written testimony states:

The practical effect of this bill is twofold. First, it would avoid an inappropriate “cliff effect” where MOE requirements would oblige funding to continue even after the lease’s expiration. Second, it would avoid treating lease costs as a variable to be funded “per pupil” when the lease itself surely would not require payments in that manner.

Private investment in school construction should not be impeded by rigid State funding laws, and this bill simply conforms their treatment to the obvious comparison: debt service. 

All of MACo’s Testimonies and bill positions can be found on the Legislation Database.