Maryland Chancellor issues warning of budget cuts

The chancellor of the University System of Maryland is urging the legislator to reconvene and take additional action on the budget in order to avoid deep spending cuts at the state’s public universities, as the leaders in Annapolis meet on Tuesday morning. In an opinion piece appearing in the Baltimore Sun, Chancellor William E. Kirwan writes, “It is imperative that we fully recognize and understand how much is at risk.” The 90-day session came to an end on April 9, without enacting an agreed-upon tax package, triggering cuts of more than $500 million if the legislature does not reconvene before July. Under the so-called “doomsday” budget, funding for the university system could be cut by nearly $50 million.

Kirwan writes, “Most troubling of all, the doomsday budget would dictate a double-digit increase for in-state, undergraduate tuition, an increase significantly higher than the 3 percent included in the governor’s budget proposal.” The results of budget cuts would be reductions in financial aid, programmatic cuts, and layoffs of faculty and staff. Republicans have made the argument that the special session is unnecessary, noting that the state’s overall budget would increase even under the “doomsday scenario.” On Tuesday Morning, executive director of the Maryland Republican Party David Ferguson said, “The Democrats continue to push their stale ideas: more taxes, more gambling, and more spending. Marylanders are not ATMs to be emptied by those who won’t properly manage the people’s business.”