Maryland’s “maintenance of effort” law requires that county governments provide the same amount of funding for education on a per-pupil basis, each year. The means that when a county provides more education funding per student in any given year, the county must continue at that rate, or a higher rate, in every future year. This dynamic can discourage additional investment in education, especially when local economic conditions are uncertain.

However, this year thirteen counties took budget action to increase their per-student education funding by a total of approximately $59.5M statewide. Those counties include: Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, St.Mary’s, Garrett, and Worcester.

For more information, see this chart of FY16 County Budget Actions to date.