Maintenance of Effort Bill

There's currently a bill in the Senate that would make certain changes to the Maintenance of Effort law:

- Altering the date by which a county governing body must make a request to the State Board of Education for a waiver from the maintenance of effort requirement;
- requiring the State Board to consider specified factors when making a decision whether to grant a waiver;
- requiring the State Superintendent of Schools to make a preliminary assessment of waiver applications by a specified time

The full text of the bill on its First Reading is here.

It is important to remember that Maintenance of Effort is an important requirement that ensures adequate funding for education by maintaining a "floor" for local funding.