Democratic leaders from the House and Senate lined up in the headquarters of the state’s largest teachers’ union today to denounce cuts to education proposed by Gov. Larry Hogan. His budget cuts $144 million dollars from schools, the Democrats said.
“It is important for us never to cut back on our commitment to education,” House Speaker Mike Busch said. Urban districts, he said, would take the biggest hit, and he said kids in districts like Baltimore City rely on schools not just for education but for meals and guidance.
“This budget as it’s presented tears at the safety net of our state through tearing at the safety net in K-12 funding,” said House Appropriations Chairman Maggie McIntosh, D-Baltimore City. Her district would lose more than $21 million in expected school funds.
McIntosh said she’s looking for ways to restore some funding. She also named Medicaid and state workers, two other areas that take big hits in the budget, as top budget priorities.
Hogan’s budget secretary, David Brinkley, argued that the cuts aren’t actually cuts, but reductions in expected increases. “There’s a record amount being invested in education, over $16.1 billion. The state has never put that much money into it,” Brinkley said. “The other fact that we need to keep in mind is that in the past, a lot of the spending has taken place by borrowing money.”
Brinkley says tough decisions were made to balance the state’s budget, but he said the governor had to find reductions to account for reduced revenues.
Absent from the news conference was Senate President Mike Miller. Last week, he called for unity in his chamber, telling his members they'd have to push back "with smiles on our faces, and we're going to have to disagree in an agreeable fashion."
The Maryland State Education Association launched a website to drum up support for adding money back to education, DontShortchangeMaryland.com, that lists the cuts district by district.
