More than thirty county government budget officers, county administrators, and county government relations staff attended a “deep dive” session on education funding formulas and the interim reports of the Study of Adequacy of Funding for Education in the State Of Maryland.

MACo staff presented an overview of current education funding formulas and reports prepared for Study of Adequacy of Funding for Education in the State Of Maryland  at a meeting this week in Annapolis. The reports were prepared by the State’s consultant, Augenblick, Palaich and Associates. Topics of the meeting included:

• Progress and Timetable of the Adequacy Study
• Adequacy Study Topics
  • Pre-K funding options
  • Wealth calculation
  • Declining/increasing enrollment
  • GCEI changes
  • School size effects
• Preview of “Thornton II” Commission

County government officials from across the state joined the meeting to hear the analysis and share their input and questions. Areas of top concern for the group included the following recommendations by the consultants:

• A $440 million investment to extend high quality pre-Kindergarten care to 80% of Maryland’s 4-year-olds
• A multiplicative approach to combining property and income tax wealth for purposes of the State’s wealth-equalizing education funding
• A comparative wage index in place of the current Geographic Cost of Education Index to supplement education funding in districts with a higher cost of living
• A $2.5 billion capital investment and $40 million annual investment to replace large, under-performing schools with smaller schools

The final report of the consultant is expected next month.

For more information, see: the interim reports of the Adequacy Study:

• A Comprehensive Analysis of Prekindergarten in Maryland
• Analysis of School Finance Equity and Local Wealth Measures in Maryland
• Final Report of the Study of Increasing and Declining Enrollment in Maryland Public Schools
• A Comparable Wage Index for Maryland
• Final School Size Study Report: Impact of Smaller Schools

And previous posts on Conduit Street:

• Stakeholder Group Considers the Equity of State’s Education Funding
• Consultants Urge Universal Pre-K
• GCEI Report Introduces New Variables, But What Would They Mean?
• Education Stakeholders Discuss Effects of Concentrated Poverty on School Performance
• Is Maryland Counting Its Low-Income Students Correctly?
• Study Recommends School Formula Changes For Enrollment Gains, Drops
• Maryland Publishes School Size Report with Enrollment Recommendations