McIntosh, Conway will push amendment putting Maryland casino revenue in ‘lockbox’ for education – The Baltimore Sun
By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun
Two leading General Assembly Democrats plan to introduce a constitutional amendment that would put the state’s share of revenue from its casino gambling industry in a “lockbox” for public schools.
Del. Maggie McIntosh, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, said the amendment would ensure that gambling taxes are not used to finance the state’s K-12 educational funding formula but to enhance it. The Senate co-sponsor, Sen. Joan Carter Conway, noted that education is the only spending priority required in the Maryland Constitution.
McIntosh said in an interview Friday that the proposal would help keep a promise made to voters when they approved casino gambling in Maryland in 2008 and expanded it in 2012 — that the state’s share of the revenue would go largely to improve education.
“Voters believed that money was safe, that it could not . . . be raided,” McIntosh said. “The public really feels they were gamed in this.”
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Benjamin Orr, executive director of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy, said McIntosh’s idea “has potential” but that he need to see the details. He said a commission headed by former University of Maryland Chancellor William E. “Brit” Kirwan is likely to recommend that the state raise an additional $2 billion or more to pay for public schools.
