Are todays formulas on school construction, highways and other state government priorities equitable?
No. No, I believe that they do not recognize the rapidly growing suburban regions appropriately and that those formulas need to be revised. But I also think that they have been dramatically politicized in the last four years in a way that I never saw happen in the 16 years that I was in the legislature. Money is withheld in the distribution of school funding, instead of being allocated at the beginning of the legislative session, a large bit of it is held back until the end of the legislative session, so that school construction money can be used as a club, or as a bribe, in order to achieve political goals. Certainly, the biggest example and most prominent example of that was with funding for the stadium, where Montgomery County was given additional money at the end. One of my commitments is to develop a fair formula, but also to ensure that that formula is followed and that the process is not a political reward for votes on pet bills or votes upcoming in the next election. Q: So you’
