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Approved State Budget Leaves Unmet Needs

April 1, 2016 by MDCEP in 2016 Session, Blog, Budget and Tax, Education

Maryland’s new state spending plan does not do all it could to meet the needs of families still struggling to get by in an uncertain economic recovery.

The state budget the General Assembly adopted this week for the fiscal year that starts July 1 is a good-news/bad-news story. For example, it increases funding for public schools over last year but essentially only covers the growth in student populations and other increased costs local school districts face. It doesn’t provide support for things that could help more children succeed, like enough money to allow more kids to attend a high-quality preschool.

Similarly, instead of adopting a measure that would have made sure everyone who needs food assistance would get at least $30 a month, lawmakers limited the increase to people over 62 years old. A lot of Marylanders who have trouble paying for food will be stuck with a maximum of $16 a month.

In the final days of the legislative session, which ends April 11, there is the potential for things to get even worse. Some legislators continue to push costly tax breaks that would further erode the state’s ability to invest in public priorities. With so many unmet needs, it is clear Maryland cannot afford giveaways that will disproportionately benefit people with incomes over $520,000 a year—Maryland’s “one percent.”

The proposed tax cuts would cost about $165 million per year when fully phased in. That’s more money than lawmakers set aside in the budget to support a list of priorities that weren’t included in the governor’s proposed spending plan, such as:

  • Modernizing aging buildings
  • Helping school districts dealing with higher-than-expected teacher retirement costs
  • Increasing reimbursement rates for physicians who serve Medicaid patients, which helps ensure that health care providers can continue to afford to treat Medicaid patients and that patients struggling to make ends meet can get the health care they need.
  • Saving the jobs of 100 state employees at the Springfield Hospital Center
  • Making addiction treatment available to more people who need it
  • Removing lead from the homes of children enrolled in Medicaid

Some of these goals might still be met, but failing to accomplish even one of them while giving tax breaks to Maryland’s “one percent” sets back the quest for all Maryland communities to thrive.