funding

As the coronavirus continues to surge across the nation, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) dispensed more federal money to boost the state’s emergency response to the virus.

“The sad truth is that the next several months will likely be by far, the most difficult that we have faced,” Hogan said in a State House news conference late Thursday afternoon. “Unfortunately we have more tough times ahead of us, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

On Thursday, the state reported a positivity rate of 5.65%, the highest it’s been since May 27, as well as an additional 1,477 cases over past 24 hours. For nine days in a row, the state has reported over 1,000 new daily cases.

Maryland is currently in the “red zone” for COVID-19 cases as designated by the federal government, along with many other states, Hogan said. The average number of cases per 100,000 residents has risen to 22.8, which is a 52% increase in just the last seven days.

On Sunday, Maryland’s coronavirus positivity rate passed the 5% benchmark, a metric set by the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization to track the spread of COVID-19, for the first time since June 25, and has only increased since then.

Half of Maryland’s jurisdictions have positivity rates higher than this benchmark: Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Charles, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, Somerset and Washington.

In response to the recent spike in cases, Hogan announced an additional $70 million in state spending through the federal CARES Act:

$20 million for a strategic stockpile of personal protective equipment; Maryland currently has a 90-day supply, Hogan said.
$15 million for more staffing support in call centers, customer service and fraud detection programming in the Maryland Department of Labor
$10 million for rental assistance for low-income tenants
$10 million for vaccination planning and equipment, such as syringes
$10 million for food banks
$2 million for the Maryland Department of Human Services for foster care assistance
$2 million to the Maryland Department of Human Services for food (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and energy assistance
$1 million to sample wastewater to test for coronavirus outbreaks in vulnerable communities

Hogan urged the counties to spend their remaining CARES Act funding as soon as possible, emphasizing that the money would be forfeited if not spent by the end of the year. “We have a desperate need right now,” Hogan said.

Hospitalizations due to the coronavirus increased by 53% in the last two weeks, with 863 patients currently hospitalized in Maryland, which is the highest level since June 11. Meanwhile, 199 patients are in intensive care units in Maryland.

The number of COVID-19 related hospitalizations in the nation surged to its highest to over 65,000 patients on Wednesday.

“We are experiencing an out of control spike across the United States and we are seeing widespread community transmission here in Maryland,” Hogan said.

Even so, Dr. Jinlene Chan, deputy secretary of public health services for the Department of Health, and Hogan said the state’s health metrics for reopening schools have not changed.

“It [school reopening decisions] ultimately is the decision of the local school board in conjunction with the local health department,” Chan said. She encouraged school districts to balance the needs of education and mental health for children.

As funding from the Paycheck Protection Program and CARES Act trickles out, Hogan blamed Congress for its inability to reach a compromise on the next COVID-19 stimulus package.

“We’re very, very concerned with the continued gridlock, divisiveness and dysfunction in Washington, while people’s lives are at stake and people’s economic lives and their mental health,” Hogan said.

As “people in the White House are focused on fighting elections and the people in the Biden administration don’t have any information…there’s a little bit of a vacuum right now,” Hogan said.

In the spring, the state had to rent an ice rink as funeral homes and morgues became overloaded with people who had died from COVID-19, Hogan recalled. “We do not want to be in that situation again,” he said.

On Tuesday, Hogan reduced dine-in capacity for bars and restaurants from 75% to 50%, advised against traveling to states with a positivity rate above 10% and encouraged telework.

He said his goal is to keep as much of the economy open as possible, but so is preventing the hospitals from overflowing. “Might we have to take more restrictive action over the coming weeks or months? Absolutely, we might,” Hogan said.

By Elizabeth Shwe

The House of Delegates erupted in cheers late Friday as a Democratic majority passed a sweeping education reform bill meant to overhaul Maryland’s public schools over the next decade.

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future bill ― a $3.8 billion reform plan ― aims to expand pre-kindergarten programs and career education for high schoolers, increase pay and career opportunities for teachers, and boost state funding for schools with high concentrations of poverty.

Also included in the bill is a proposed new education funding formula, which would guide the increased state and local education spending and direct more resources to low-income students, those in special education programs and those learning English.

Democrats cast the vote as a historic moment for racial and economic equity.

“The disparities in achievement between racial and socioeconomic and ethnic communities are unacceptable … it’s morally indefensible,” said House Appropriations Chairwoman Maggie L. McIntosh (D-Baltimore City), a former school teacher who was a member of the Kirwan Commission on Innovation and Excellence and Education that crafted the recommendations on education policy and funding reforms.

Republican members of the chamber said they opposed the bill largely because of its costs, which have no dedicated funding source as of yet.

“This is a massive spending plan that is about to be foisted upon the taxpayers of Maryland,” Del. Haven Shoemaker (R-Carroll) said. “…I’m of the opinion that throwing money at a problem isn’t necessarily going to fix said problem.”

Del. Alonzo T. Washington (D-Prince George’s), vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, defends the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future bill on the floor of the House of Delegates. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines/Maryland Matters

Del. Alonzo T. Washington (D-Prince George’s), also a Kirwan Commission member, responded: “We’re not throwing money at a problem. We’re ensuring that we provide initiatives that work for our lowest-performing schools and our students. This is our students, these are our babies back in our schools back at home.”

Republicans tried during hours of debate on Friday to sway a vote to the nay column, or to influence the bill by introducing 14 amendments. All failed along mostly party-line votes.

At the end of the night, shortly before 10 p.m., the bill was passed by a 96-41 vote. All Democrats voted for the legislation and all Republicans voted against it.

After Friday night’s vote, the fight over education funding is far from ending.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted Friday evening to advance a revenue package unpopular with Republicans that would implement combined corporate reporting in the state, increase the state’s tobacco tax and apply it to vaping products, tax certain digital goods similar to tangible goods, and apply a sales tax on some luxury services.

Taken together with other bills under consideration, the bills could generate up to $700 million in new state revenue by 2025, covering a substantial portion of increased state spending for public education in 2025, expected to be about $1.3 billion.

“Whether we crush Marylanders with one massive tax increase or 43 small ones, the net effect is the same,” he argued unsuccessfully.

The House chamber is expected to move quickly on the revenue measures as well, as lawmakers stare down a deadline to present bills to Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) with enough time to force a same-session veto deliberation.

The reform bill passed with 11 votes more than the three-fifths needed to override a veto. Senate committees are set to begin reviewing the House bill on Monday.

Looking at Local Costs

According to updated fiscal estimates released Friday, overall education funding from the state and counties would reach more than $19.1 billion in 2030, about a 25% increase over what could be expected without the formula change.

The state would direct about $10.5 billion annually to public schools in 2030, up from current spending of $7.3 billion.

The proposed funding formula would also require 13 counties and the city of Baltimore to increase their 2030 local school budgets by anywhere from 2% to 55% over today’s formula. Ten counties already fund their schools at levels exceeding the requirements of the new formula.

County funding burdens under the new formula vary widely because of historical spending patterns and the number of students in each county who qualify for special programs.

The city of Baltimore will have the largest percentage increase ―55% ― in its public schools budget by 2030, when the system will be expected to spend $479.5 million. That’s up from $308.9 million that would be required in 2030 under current law.

At the same time the city’s obligation increases, so too does state funding ― by 68%. The city would receive $1.5 billion in direct state aid in 2030 under the bill.

State funding increases for all jurisdictions under the proposed formula.

Montgomery County Public Schools face the largest local spending increase in raw dollar figures: $234.4 million in 2030, when the county’s school funding obligation would rise to more than $2.1 billion.

The local obligation in Prince George’s County would increase by 20%, or about $183.5 million more than required by the current formula.

Talbot, Kent and Caroline counties also face funding increases of more than 20% by 2030 under the legislation.

By Danielle E. Gaines and Hannah Gaskill.

As COVID-19 Cases Spike, Hogan Provides More Economic Aid

House Passes Education Reform Bill Three Years in the Making

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