Tea at Trianon: Is The Blueprint Bankrupting Maryland?

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, June 21, 2024

Is The Blueprint Bankrupting Maryland?

From Jan Greenhawk at The Easton Gazette:

Republican State Senator Justin Ready thinks it is. He says the State will be going off a 'financial cliff."

“It's a self-created hole,” Ready told FOX 45's Project Baltimore. “I'm disappointed but not surprised that we were downgraded to negative.” Ready was referring to the recent downgrade of the state by Moody's, the agency that gives credit ratings for a variety of agencies, states, governments, etc. Their ratings are a barometer of the financial health of those groups. States often use Moody's ratings to help boost business and investment in their economies.

Moody’s has issued a warning for the state’s fiscal future and downgraded Maryland’s financial outlook to “negative” from “stable”. The credit rating agency affirmed Maryland’s coveted AAA bond rating, but added, “The negative outlook incorporates difficulties Maryland will face to achieve balanced financial operations in coming years.”

Ready agrees. He calls recent increases in spending and therefore taxing as the state and local level, "Unsustainable."

A huge part of this financial burden can be attributed to the Blueprint for Maryland's Future. The Blueprint, which adds $30 billion additional tax dollars into public education, state-wide, over the first 10 years and then $4 billion additional dollars every year after that. These increases are spread across the state's local education agencies which are feeling a huge impact to local taxes and education budgets.

Many local school systems, in order to meet the Blueprint mandated changes in education funding have asked for huge tax increases in their counties and districts. In many cases, in order to meet mandates in certain areas, had to cut jobs and educational programs that were effective but did not meet the Blueprint mandates. For example, in Howard, Harford and Baltimore Counties, teaching positions were eliminated and the county's gifted and talented program, among others, may be eliminated. Baltimore County cut 300 teaching positions. Class sizes in many districts have increased.

Ready says that the legislature needs to change the Blueprint by either changing local funding formulas or increasing the time necessary for the reforms to be fully implemented from ten to 14 years, thus spreading the spending increases out over more time. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson is not interested in changes and states that the problems with the Blueprint are "growing pains."

“There are going to be tough moments,” Ferguson told FOX 45 Project Baltimore. “But I think, in the end, the right increased investment, with the right accountability, will make the difference to make a better school system across the state.” The Taxpayers Protection Alliance believes that is a specious argument and believes that problems and concerns with the Blueprint should have been ironed out by now. The group's leader, David Williams stated, “I would give Kirwan( Blueprint) a failing grade on two ends. First, from the taxpayer's point of view and secondly, from a student point of view, because these services are being cut in certain school districts.” (Read more.)