"If you want great schools -- the best schools in America -- bring your kids to Maryland. But if you want pretty good schools -- send them to Fairfax.... We're the greatest state in the nation." - Roger Manno

Rockville, MD - This evening Senator Roger Manno attended a budget town hall meeting in Rockville organized by the "Save Our State" coalition of labor, civil rights and social justice organizations.

The two hour town hall included budget presentations and an overview of a "balanced approach" to budget and revenue options in order to address the State's structural budget shortfall.

Roger was asked to speak as a member of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. His comments were stark, and gave his perspective on the magnitude of our challenge: "We're the greatest state in the nation. That's not rhetoric, it's quantifiable. Because if you want great schools -- the best schools in America -- bring your kids to Maryland. But if you want pretty good schools -- send them to Fairfax."

Roger continued: “We didn’t get here by accident -- we did it by making the tough, smart investments to get it done. And as a result, our budget's in better shape today than most other states. But we've got to be honest about the challenge ahead -- a $1 billion structural hole, and possibly another $1-2 billion in cuts from the federal government in the near-term. That's potentially twice the structural hole of the 2007 Special Session, at a time when most of the easy cuts have already been made. We all need to come to terms with that reality."

Like the Save Our State coalition, Roger strongly supports a balanced approach that includes cuts, greater efficiencies in government, and revenues, in order to overt cuts to core and safety-net services. But he cautioned that necessary cuts to balance the budget far exceed potential revenues. “Even if we were able to raise the gas tax, combined reporting, the millionaire tax, income tax and the sales tax, we would only be $1.1 billion out of a $2-3 billion hole. And the reality and likelihood of garnering the votes for any one or two of those revenue streams in this political climate is uncertain, at best. So we've got a choice -- we can fix this budget during the regular legislative session, with transparency and an opportunity for people and groups to be heard, or we can leave it to the Board of Public Works to make as much as a 10-percent across-the-board cut when we're not in session. I choose the balanced approach, while we're in legislative session. And I know you do too."

The Save Our State coalition includes: ACLU-MD Education Reform Project, Advocates for Children and Youth, Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO, AFSCME-MD, AFSCME Council 67, AFT Maryland, Maryland and DC Alliance for Retired Americans, Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, Maryland Education Coalition, Maryland Nonprofits, Maryland Retired School Personnel Association, Maryland State Conference NAACP, Maryland State Education Association, Progressive Maryland, SEIU Local 500, SEIU Maryland and DC State Council, and UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO.

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