The deadline for submission of nonrecurring costs is fast approaching. To take advantage of this mechanism to exclude one-time expenses from the local education’s budget maintenance of effort calculation, counties must submit their applications to the State Board before March 31.
Recent data from the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) reveals that on average fewer than eight counties per year take advantage of this opportunity. From MACo’s report,
This report is MACo’s analysis of information from MSDE and shares what we have learned about the nonrecurring cost application process. MACo hopes this will be helpful to county government officials applying for nonrecurring costs as MACo continues to advocate for more clarity and a better process for nonrecurring cost exclusions.
In the report, we aim to improve the accessibility and use of the nonrecurring cost exclusion, covering:
- How does a county apply to have nonrecurring costs approved?
- What categories of costs can be considered as nonrecurring?
- When does the school board need to agree with the request?
- What requests have been approved and denied in recent years?
All the submission forms, statutes, regulations, and guideline documents relevant to this process are provided in appendices to the report.
