What is the “trigger” mechanism in the Bridge to Excellence Act?
The act required the General Assembly to affirm by Joint Resolution, by the fiftieth day of the 2004 legislative session (March 3), that the aid amount calculated for fiscal 2005 is within the state’s fiscal resources. Absent such a resolution, state education aid for each school system would increase by only 5 percent from fiscal 2004 to 2005 and by 5 percent to 6 percent annually from fiscal 2006 to 2008. Under this default provision, state aid would have been reduced by almost $187 million in fiscal 2005, $385 million in fiscal 2006, $597 million in fiscal 2007, and $872 million in fiscal 2008. The Prince George’s County Public Schools would have lost $75 million in fiscal 2005 alone; total state aid would have been cut from $726.6 million to $651.6 million. However, because this requirement in effect established a “legislative veto,” the Maryland attorney general’s office questioned its constitutionality. To clear up this problem, and to guarantee full funding of the Thornton plan,
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