Md. Governor Lists Options To Remedy $ 1 .2 Billion Gap

By Ellen Flax

In the face of a projected $1.2 billion budget deficit, Gov. William Donald Schaefer has offered Maryland lawmakers a stark choice: either approve a major revenue-raising proposal or accept a "doomsday budget" making cuts of unprecedented severity in education and other state programs.

Even under the more optimistic proposal, which assumes the legislature will approve $526 million in new taxes and user fees, education would not fare very well. While the chief form of state aid to schools would rise, the increase would be offset by cuts that include a $67.4 million reduction in state funding for school transportation and private school placements for special education students and the loss of $150 million in aid to local governments, which frequently is used for schools.

That austerity pales, however, beside the economic hardship that could occur if the legislature declines to take the politically risky step of approving a tax increase in an election year. If so, the Governor has warned, the state's $12.57 billion budget would be balanced only through laying off thousands of state workers, eliminating several state departments, and zero-funding virtually...