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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Republican Gov. Larry Hogan held firm Thursday on setting aside $68 million for an education funding formula for parts of the state where costs are higher — half as much as Democrats pushed for in the recent legislative session.
Hogan, who campaigned on bringing greater fiscal responsibility to state spending, said his budget still allocates more money than ever before to K-12 education, or $109 million more than last year. The governor also noted he inherited a budget deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars within days of taking office.
In response, Hogan cut in half the $136 million to fully fund the Geographic Cost of Education Index, a discretionary fund for school systems where educational costs are above the state average.
Most of the GCEI money is steered to larger jurisdictions. For example, Montgomery County will receive $17.7 million, instead of $35.5. Prince George's County will get $20.3 million, rather than $40.6 million under full funding. The city of Baltimore will receive $11.6 million instead of $23.2 million.
The state has fully funded the formula in recent years during former Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's tenure. This year, Democrats made changes to the state's $40 billion budget during the legislative session to make room to restore 100 percent of the GCEI funding.
But Hogan, who has strong budget powers as Maryland's chief executive, had the final say on how the money could be spent. In the end, he opposed a move by Democrats to tap $75 million in an extra payment that had been initially set aside to help shore up unfunded pension liabilities.
"They're asking us to rob from the pension funds that belong to state employees, teachers and retirees, in order to have further increases in the bonus funding that we have already provided," Hogan told reporters Thursday.
House Speaker Michael Busch said the decision will be frustrating for counties that need the money, particularly because lawmakers worked to find alternatives to balance the budget and fully fund the formula.
"As you know, the growth in education funding from the state accommodates the enrollment growth that you have in different areas, so I think it's a real disappointment for those counties," said Busch, D-Anne Arundel.
The Democratic-led Legislature passed a bill in the waning hours of the session to require the governor to fully fund the GCEI in future years, if Hogan decided not to fund it entirely for the next fiscal year. Hogan, who opposes the mandate, said Thursday he plans to allow that bill to become law without his signature. The House and Senate passed the bill by veto-proof margins.
Sean Johnson, director of political and legislative affairs for the state's teachers union, said the drop in funding for the next fiscal year will have different impacts from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
"The bottom line for everyone is that it's going to negatively impact our kids," Johnson said.
Hogan noted that he is the first governor to ever fund the GCEI at all in his first year. The formula received no funding through fiscal year 2008, which included the budget approved in O'Malley's first year as governor. The state phased in the funding after that, beginning at 30 percent in fiscal year 2009 — O'Malley's second year. It was fully funded in each subsequent year.
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