Education reforms push state toward financial cliff
'Self-created hole'
(ZEROHEDGE) – Fitch, Moody's Ratings, and S&P Global Ratings recently reaffirmed Maryland's coveted triple-A credit rating. However, Moody's downgraded the state's outlook from stable to "negative," citing significant concerns about looming structural deficits due to Annapolis' out-of-control education spending. And while education spending soars, test scores are going in the wrong direction.
"The negative outlook incorporates difficulties Maryland will face to achieve balanced financial operations in coming years without sacrificing service delivery goals or adding to the weight of the state government's burden on individual and corporate taxpayers," Moody's wrote in the report last month. This is the first time the credit rating agency has issued a negative outlook for the state since 2011, several years after the GFC meltdown.
A looming fiscal cliff is primarily driven by education programs, including the Blueprint for Maryland's Future education reforms. When the reform was passed, the genius progressive lawmakers in Annapolis did not pass a funding mechanism.