The General Assembly gave high priority to education this Session, significantly increasing support for public schools, community colleges, and State colleges and universities. Provisions were also enacted regarding academic standards, fiscal and management accountability, and classroom violence. Additionally, task forces were established to examine charter schools, school class sizes, and the governance and funding of the University of Maryland. This legislation also provides funding for school libraries, teacher development, and the repair of aging school buildings. New student financial aid programs enacted this year address the escalating cost of a college education.
Teachers can already participate in similar local plans.
A plan to control farmland runoff, linked to last summer's outbreaks of toxic pfiesteria in Maryland rivers, was heatedly debated. Poultry companies will be required to apply phosphorus-reducing enzymes to poultry feed beginning in 2001. Farmers who switch from manure to commercial reduced-nutrient fertilizer will be eligible for a tax credit and a tax break for the cost of necessary equipment. The dredges destroy underwater grasses that absorb harmful nutrients from the Bay and provide homes for fish and crabs. One of the most heated controversies this Session concerned Maryland's suit against cigarette makers to recover the high cost of treating patients with smoking-related illnesses.