County Gets Maintenance of Effort Waiver

The Maryland State Board of Education granted us a waiver of the State’s Maintenance of Effort law for Fiscal Year 2011. The law requires jurisdictions to appropriate at least as much money per pupil to its public schools as it did in the previous year.

Earlier in the day, I, along with Ike Leggett, Jerry Weast and Pat O’Neill presented a united front in requesting the waiver before the State Board.

We thank the State Board of Education for today’s decision that, in essence, recognizes the commitment Montgomery County has historically made to its educational system and also recognizes the drastic budget situation that has impacted our County over the past several years due to a variety of circumstances. No county in this state—in fact, few counties in this nation—have made as great of a financial commitment to education over past decades as has Montgomery County. That commitment will never be altered, and even in this most austere of years, more than 56 percent of our total combined agency expenditures will go to our public schools. We are pleased the State Board of Education has made a decision that is the right one for the children of Montgomery County.