By Rachel Ravina, Staff Writer

(Dec. 26, 2019) Policy recommendations designed to revamp the state’s public education system will go before the Maryland General Assembly next month.

The Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, which is also known as the Kirwan Commission, is led by its chairman William “Brit” Kir- wan.

The legislation, known as The Blueprint for America’s Future, included proposals for free preschool for 3-and- 4-year-olds living at 300 percent below the property level, higher salaries for teachers, college- and career-readiness standards, vocational education, and allocated funding for counties.

The Senate bill went through without Gov. Larry Hogan’s signature in June. However, Hogan said during the Maryland Association of Counties conference earlier this summer that he couldn’t support the plan because half the monetary burden would fall to the counties in Maryland.

Dr. Jon Andes, executive director of the Eastern Shore of Maryland Educational Consortium, and former Worcester County school superintendent, said the commission would work to decide how roughly $855 million would be distributed throughout the state.

He added there would be about $725 million on the table for fiscal years 2021 and 2022, “with a potential of an additional $130 million.”

Andes said state funding for schools is distributed “inverse the wealth,” which puts Worcester at a big disadvantage, since the state calculates wealth for
school funding by comparing the total assessed value of real property in a county to its total population.

“[The] more local wealth you have, the less state aid you receive,” he said.

Worcester County receives the second lowest amount of state funding at $4,217 per student and some $26.5 million overall in fiscal year 2019.

The county’s tax base wealth, however, is largely because of resort- and tourism-based properties and has nothing to do with household income, as is evidenced by the 10.3 percent of county residents whose incomes put them below the poverty line, according to the Census Bureau.

The Kirwan Commission created a subgroup charged with finding better ways to allocate millions of dollars in state funding to improve the state’s schools.

“[The] 13-member commission that’s been appointed — all western shore folks,” Andes said. “There’s no one from the Eastern Shore or no one from rural communities on the commission.”

“It’s critically important that a representative of rural communities be in the room when people are making determinations with the distribution of state aid,” Andes said. “Without the voice of rural Maryland in that room, the needs of students in rural communities will not be met.”

Andes also pondered how Worcester County would be treated.

“It could potentially negatively impact the funding formula, especially if the funding … is distributed based on wealth in terms of Worcester County,” he said.

Locally, Worcester County Commissioner Bud Church appeared to be caught off guard when he learned of the makeup of the funding formula work group.

“I think that was a blatant mistake,” Church said. “We are a part of the state of Maryland.”

A few weeks later, State Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-38) publicly objected to the Kirwan Commission’s funding formula workgroup’s decision to go into executive session during a Sept. 19 meeting, charging that it is a public body and is therefore obligated to work in the open.

“I … strongly objected to this decision to work on education funding formulas in secret,” Carozza said. “These meetings should be open to the public and not behind closed doors.”

However, Kirwan responded that the formula could have “sensitivity to different assumptions” and members wanted to see “what happens with the formula as you change some assumptions” in order to get a better understanding of the formula.

“So the whole process where the decisions are being made will be in the public, and I just wanted to emphasize that point,” Kirwan said.

The Kirwan Commission’s funding formula workgroup issued a set of preliminary funding formula recommendations during an Oct. 15 meeting.

The commission’s wealth calculation incorporates the property tax base and income tax totals. Worcester County, with a population of a little more than 51,000, has a resort-generated assessable base of almost $16 billion.

The formula shows that Worcester County would have to budget an additional $5.3 million on its schools in 2030, while the state’s contribution would grow by $7 million for a combined $12.3 million increase in 2030 school spending in Worcester.

By contrast, Wicomico County, which ranks 22nd in the state in per capita wealth, would receive an additional $73.8 million from the state, while its local contribution to the school budget would have to grow by $9.4 million., according to figures released during an Oct. 15 meeting.

Carozza also took issue with the workgroup’s ideas of property value- based wealth.

“The problem with the current formula is that it is more skewed towards property values rather than making an adjustment to incorporate poverty to more equitably distribute school funds to the school systems,” Carozza said.

Lou Taylor, superintendent of Worcester County Public Schools said more than $255 million in state funding for fiscal year 2020 was included as part of “The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future,” and of that Worcester County received just $688,000.

The commission, however, was directed to determine what public schools needed financially to implement new programs, but not how to pay for it. That has earned strong opposition from Gov. Larry Hogan.

“Unfortunately, the ‘Kirwan Tax Hike Commission’ is hell-bent on spending billions more than we can af- ford, and legislators are refusing to come clean about where the money is going to come from,” Hogan said. “Even after more than three years of meetings, there is still no clear plan whatsoever for how either the state or the counties will pay this massive price tag.”

Hogan added that it would require a 39 percent increase in personal income tax, an 89 percent sales tax increase and a 535 percent property tax increase, which would create an $18 million state deficit.

Vince Tolbert, chief financial officer for Worcester County Public Schools, said the numbers could result in more of the same for this district.

“Based on this … the fact that wealth equalization is going to continue to be a part of the formula concerns us, because the state considers us a very wealthy county even though 42 percent of kids come from poverty, so that does concern us,” Tolbert said in an October interview.

Worcester County education officials and elected leaders attended a public meeting on Nov. 12 in Annapolis.

“The Kirwan recommendations, if adopted in their current form, would deepen the disparity between what is fair and what is not,” Worcester County Commissioner Chip Bertino said during the public hearing.

Carozza was one of three Kirwan Commission members who voted against the funding formula recommendations.

The recommendations passed, and the approved potential policies will go before state leaders when the General Assembly reconvenes on Jan. 8.