The Board of Public Works limits the changes in percents to one year, and holds all counties harmless from reductions in percent contributions from the State.
Maryland counties and the state share responsibility for funding school construction for the K-12 school system. The amount of funding that the state provides to an individual school system is set in code, and is based on a calculation of wealth of the school system’s district. The aim is that the State provides a larger share of funding to projects in counties that have less local wealth to support new school construction.
The state cost-share percentages have now been set for FY 2019. As described in Revised State Share Percentages for School Construction May Be Revised Again, there were several versions of the percentages this year. In the prior two versions, seven counties would have seen a decrease in the State’s percentage contributions.
The percentages adopted by the Board of Public Works hold all counties harmless from decreases in the state’s cost-share.
The Board also limited its decision to FY 2019, rather than the typical 3-year term for new cost-share percentages. This decision will allow for another look at the percentages, and could allow for changes and updates to the formula used to set the percentages.
See the percentages adopted for FY 2019 below. The highlights in the chart are revisions made by the Board of Public Works that hold counties harmless. For more information, see the Board of Public Works Agenda.
At MACo’s Winter Conference the Chair of the 21st Century School Facilities Commission, Martin Knott, and Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh will speak about the shared state/county responsibility for K-12 school construction.
Learn more about MACo’s 2017 Winter Conference:
