Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) issued dire warnings Saturday about the prohibitive cost of proposed education reform in Maryland, vowing to oppose any measures that would result in higher taxes or budget deficits.
Speaking at the close of the Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in Ocean City, where how to pay for the recommendations of the so-called Kirwan Commission to boost public education has been a hot topic, Hogan faulted the legislature for advancing “well-meaning but half-baked, fiscally irresponsible” proposals that could bankrupt the state.
Hogan said fully funding the costs of the Kirwan blueprint, estimated at about $4 billion – half of which would be borne by the counties, half from the state – would require a 39% increase in the personal income tax, an 89% hike in the sales tax, and a 535% boost in property taxes. The plan would create an $18 billion state deficit, he said, and “a bruising” $6,200 tax hike for the average Maryland family over the next five years.
“Not a single one of these things is ever going to happen while I’m governor of the state of Maryland,” Hogan asserted, pointing to $32 billion in investments in K-12 education during his 4 ½-year tenure.
State Sen. James C. Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s) – one of just half a dozen state lawmakers to attend Hogan’s speech – characterized the governor’s pronouncements about drastic tax increases as “political talking points.”
“His position on education funding has been fairly consistent, that he will fund whatever we appropriate, but he’s not going to take any leadership on it,” Rosapepe said. “That’s not news.”
Montgomery County Executive Marc B. Elrich (D), who presides over the county with the largest student population in the state, said Hogan’s remarks were “not surprising.”
“He doesn’t say anything about whether or not Kirwan is needed – nothing about the substance of the proposal, other than we don’t have the money,” Elrich said. “It’s a nihilistic approach to government: I don’t have the money, therefore the problem doesn’t exist. It’s frustrating.”
But Harford County Executive Barry Glassman (R) – the current MACo president – said Hogan’s warnings gibed with the sober fiscal realities many county and state officials had been discussing at the conference this week. Glassman suggested Kirwan’s recommendations – and their associated costs – may need to be phased in over a longer period than the decade Democratic legislative leaders envision.
“It’s well meaning,” he said of the Kirwan plan. “But the fiscal ramifications may be beyond the realm of what’s realistic.”..
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