Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) will introduce a budget on Friday that includes no new taxes, raises for state employees and spending on public education in excess of state mandates.
Hogan previewed the contents of the $46.6 billion fiscal year 2020 budget proposal, which is expected to increase spending by about 4 percent, to the press on Thursday. He will have a breakfast meeting with legislative fiscal leaders on Friday morning before releasing the full budget in detail.
Hogan said the FY 2020 budget is structurally balanced and will set aside $1.3 billion in reserves, while also including record funding for education. While that feat is made easier by mandated annual increases in education funding, Hogan said his budget also eschews the state funding formula, which would have cut state spending on public education in the city of Baltimore by $11 million because of declining enrollment, an issue faced by other counties as well. The budget will include an education spending increase for every jurisdiction in the state, Hogan said.
The budget will include $6.9 billion in spending for public K-12 education, including $200 million reserved to implement the recommendations of the Kirwan Commission “if and when” they are delivered, Hogan said. Other K-12 education funding includes $438 million for school construction funding, which the governor’s office said was the most ever in one year, $300,000 to establish three new P-TECH schools, $20 million in state funding to expand access to prekindergarten throughout the state, and a $7 million boost that more than doubles funding for the Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST) Program, which provides funding for low-income students to attend private schools, to $10 million.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Danielle E. Gaines over Maryland Matters