Commentary
Ocean City Today Mar. 18, 2022
Page 49
School funding protest pointless Once again, Worcester County government finds itself in familiar territory: another budget season of more “want” than “have.” This time, the county’s departments and outside beneficiaries of its annual spending want about $11 million more than the county expects to receive in revenue. At one time, this large variance between requests and the financial and political realities of budgeting might be looked on as disturbing. But not so much these days, as the commissioners have always worked it out, and fairly smoothly at that. The one bump in the road this year, however, has nothing to do with the people, departments, organizations and local governments that have appealed to the county for money. No, this time it is the state law that requires the county to maintain the same level of school funding, on a per-pupil basis, as it did the year before. It’s a fairly simple statute written decades ago to ensure that counties don’t balance their budgets or keep taxes low by cutting education spending. It's called “Maintenance of Effort,” and it applies equally to every public school system in every jurisdiction in the state. That’s why the decision this week by a commissioner majority to hire lawyers to look into the fairness of Maintenance of Effort is pointless. Worcester challenged the law once before a decade or so ago, and that went nowhere, so there’s no reason to believe that this attempt will turn out any differently. Commissioners Joe Mitrecic and Ted Elder said as much when they voted against the majority. Protesting this requirement might look good on paper — or in the paper, for that matter — but the reality is the county’s legal team would have to bring down the state’s entire school funding structure to accomplish anything. Further, sympathy in Annapolis for Worcester’s financial circumstance is not exactly abundant, considering that this county has the state’s third lowest property tax rate and the lowest county income tax. As flawed as the state’s school funding formula might be as it relates to the tiny share Worcester receives, the county can’t do much about it. And trying to get out of the Maintenance of Effort requirement, isn’t just impractical, it’s impossible.
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EDITOR ............................................ Stewart Dobson MANAGING EDITOR ................................ Lisa Capitelli STAFF WRITERS .................. Greg Ellison, Greg Wehner, ..........................................Jack Chavez, Mallory Panuska ACCOUNT MANAGERS.......... Mary Cooper, Vicki Shrier ..............................................................Amanda Shick CLASSIFIEDS/LEGALS MANAGER .... Nancy MacCubbin SENIOR DESIGNER ................................ Susan Parks GRAPHIC ARTIST .................................... Kelly Brown PUBLISHER........................................ Christine Brown ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ...................... Gini Tufts Ocean City Today is published weekly by FLAG Publications, Inc. 11934 Ocean Gateway, Suite 6, Ocean City, Md. 21842 Ocean City Today is available by subscription at $150 a year. Visit us on the Web at www.oceancitytoday.com. Copyright 2022
PUBLIC EYE
One tough decision
Sometimes, it’s just so difficult to decide what to write about when I have two compelling choices, and this is one of those weeks. When faced with a pair of equally compelling stories, I’m forced to call on my understanding of the market and decades of editing and writing experience to make a selection, and even then I sometimes struggle. So, which of these two actual stories is best: Giant Spiders Invade East Coast or Nurses With Guns. The problem here is that both these stories sound like By the main feature at the driveStewart in movie circa 1960. “Coming Soon: Nurses Dobson With Guns! No More Hearts and Flowers For These Nightingales! It’s Guns and Glory! (see previews for how well the uniforms fit).” I’m telling you, 13-year-old boys would have been all agog over that back in the day, as concern with plot, dialogue, cinematography and such didn’t rank that highly on their movie-ranking checklist. “Wow! That movie was fantastic. This one nurse was really ... “Yeah, well I thought the dialogue was a little stilted.” Yeah, no, that’s not happening. Now take our other possible B-movie feature: “Giant Spiders Invade.” The thing about this entry is that giant spiders really are invading the East Coast, and my guess is the Syfy Channel already had a giant spider feature in the works, along with sequels: Giant Mutant Spiders Invade, Mega-
Giant Spiders Invade, Mecha-Giant Spiders, and Mecha-Spiders vs Mega-Spiders. All are thrilling, I am sure, especially if you’re just knocking off from a long day of sniffing gas tanks (note: don’t do that). As it happens, the giant spiders have arrived via shipping containers from Asia, where they enjoy a quiet and happy life of keeping the pet population in check. Just kidding. They don’t do that, because their fangs are so tiny they are harmless. Okay, maybe they’ll wrap up the occasional 13-year-old boy and put him in storage for later, but there are plenty of them. Just kidding again. They are harmless, really. Now, about those nurses with guns. This has been discussed for at least the past 10 years, and it’s come up again out in the Midwest courtesy of some wobble-wigged legislator who believes nothing says health care like a Glock 22 with a 15-round clip. Of course, there would be the occasional variation. “So, Mr. Jones, did we take our meds this morning? No? Well, Mr. Jones, do you see what I have strapped to my hip? Why yes, you are correct. That IS a .44 magnum Smith & Wesson, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off. You've got to ask yourself one question, Mr. Jones. Do you want to take your meds? Well, do ya?” Nevertheless, I’m still conflicted about picking just one of these incredibly attractive topics. I’ll wrestle with it a little more before making a decision, and hope that in the meantime I see a story about spiders with guns. Yeah, that’s it, spiders with guns running around in tight little uniforms. Oh, the possibilities.
