ANNAPOLIS — State Democratic leaders announced Monday that they are throwing their support behind an incentive program that would match college savings funds for middle-income and poor families in Maryland.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch said that college affordability and education funding are among their top economic priorities for this legislative session.
“Currently, we have more kids in the community colleges than we have in the four-year university system,” Mr. Busch said. “Clearly, they’re working a job to help put themselves through college, and we think it’s important that the state steps up and gives them that opportunity. We pride ourselves on our well-educated workforce, and unless we make it affordable and accessible for working-class families, they won’t have that opportunity for that.”
The initiative would act like a 401(k) retirement fund and allow families to put money into a college savings fund that the state would match up to $250 a year, depending on how much they choose to invest. The measure would cost roughly $5 million annually.
When it comes to saving for college, wealthier families are more likely to use the 529 savings program than middle- and low-income families, and Democrats hope that by matching the savings, they can incentivize more Marylanders to save.
The effort to address the rising cost of college would be handled on the back-end with a provision offering those with $20,000 or more in student loan debt to get a debt repayment tax credit of up to $5,000. It would depend on their income-to-debt ratio, so the less they earn after college, the more help they would get from the state to pay it off.
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Flanked by leading Democrats in the House and the Senate, Mr. Miller and Mr. Busch said they also would support bills to address the pay gap between men and women in the workforce and to require employers to offer retirement savings funds, though businesses would not be required to match anything employees choose to invest.
The pay gap bill would make it illegal to retaliate against employees who reveal salary data, a response to advocates saying that a lack of public information on what men and women make leave female workers without an advantage when negotiating salaries.
The announcement is the first in a series unveiling Democratic legislative priorities for the session.
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan already has presented his priorities for increasing tax relief for middle-class families, small businesses and retirees. He also has pushed for an end to mandated spending, and wants to expand corporate tax breaks to companies that settle down in economically-beleaguered areas of the state.
Both parties have pushed for targeting middle- and lower-class citizens, but Democratic leaders suggested that Mr. Hogan cannot count on support for an agenda about which, they say, he has failed to provide any real information to the General Assembly.
Mr. Miller said the governor had not kept his word to fund the Prince George’s Hospital Center or the Baltimore demolition project he announced but did not include money for in the budget.
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Democrats say they are choosing to tackle the state’s economy through education-related initiatives such as the Able Act, which would allow families who save for a disabled child’s college fund.
“Today, we’re talking about education,” Mr. Miller said. “Education, education, education — that’s what we’re all about, and we’re not going to put education behind anything.”
Monday’s announcement was the second college affordability measure in two weeks. Mr. Hogan announced last week that he would be establishing a scholarship program of up to $6,000 for students who graduate from high school early.
The Democrats’ other proposed legislation in the Senate includes online certifications for financial literacy to be offered in schools on a voluntary basis and a bill to help workers compensation for drug-free workplaces that offer training and resources to help workers who abstain from drugs.
• Anjali Shastry can be reached at ashastry@washingtontimes.com.
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