By Madeline Stewart
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday submitted a $1.59 billion supplemental budget for the 2022 fiscal year with a focus on additional resources for the safe reopening of schools during the coronavirus pandemic.
The supplemental budget is an amendment to the original budget proposed on Jan. 19. In addition to supporting reopening schools safely, the budget would make additional allocations to childcare, local health departments, and housing counseling.
“I want to commend all the teachers, administrators, parents, and public health officials who are doing everything they can to give Maryland students the chance to get back in the classrooms safely,” Hogan said.
The original budget provided a record $7.5 billion to K-12 education, and the supplemental budget contains an additional $931 million in targeted assistance for the safe reopening of public schools. Nonpublic schools will receive $35 million from the Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund to support safe reopening.
Additional educational allocations in the original budget for 2022 proposed last month include $151 million to continue a tutoring program implemented this year for students most at-risk, $53 million for full-day pre-Kindergarten to every 4-year-old in the state, and $833 million for school construction projects in every jurisdiction
Hogan has encouraged the reopening of schools on March 1. He announced at a press conference last weekthat the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland State Department have launched a program to provide up to 1 million coronavirus tests to public and nonpublic schools to safely facilitate reopening efforts.
Bridget Flynn, a Towson University student who works as a student teacher at Colgate Elementary School in Dundalk stressed the need for additional money to safely reopen schools.
“Obviously, if there wasn’t a pandemic, I’d say give us more books and flexible seating,” said Flynn, “but now we need personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, and hand sanitizer.
“These kids need to be in school, and I hate the term re-opening. Schools have been open, teachers have been working, and students have been learning— we haven’t gotten a break,” she said.
Other highlights of the supplemental budget include an additional $434 million in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer program, $128 million to support the state’s Child Care Scholarship program, and $20 million from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund to go towards community colleges, private institutions of higher education, and competitive innovation grants.
The supplemental budget also will provide $9 million to local health departments and $1 million for Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development and for the Maryland Housing Counseling Fund.