During the 2017 MACo Winter Conference roundtable discussion “The Next Round of School Funding Debates,” attendees heard the latest updates on the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, which is charged with making policy and funding recommendations for Maryland’s public education system.

Montgomery County Councilmember, Craig Rice and Allegany County Commissioner, William Valentine, MACo’s representatives on the Commission, led the discussion.

Commissioner Valentine and Councilmember Rice emphasized MACo’s position that any recommendations made by the Commission be fair and equitable to all twenty-four jurisdictions, and that no recommendations result in a “winners and losers” situation for Maryland counties.

Valentine and Rice also confirmed that the Commission would not have time to reach a final set of recommendations by December. This derails widely held expectations that its recommendations, translated into proposed legislation, would become a major centerpiece of the 2018 session of the General Assembly.

The session was moderated by MACo’s Executive Director Michael Sanderson and was held on Wednesday, December 6. The MACo Winter Conference was December 6-8, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Hotel in Cambridge, Maryland. This year’s conference theme was “The Power of Partnership.”