5312

VETOES

adult education, food subsidy, school construction, youth
services, multiservice centers, and any other aid not
applicable to the expenditure categories noted in
sub-subparagraph 2.

(iii) The averages of the statewide per
pupil expenditures for each of the 3 years are summed and
divided by three. The quotient resulting from this division
is multiplied by .75 and the resulting product is the per
pupil program level. The per pupil amount is multiplied by
the number of students enrolled to determine the basic
current expense funding program in which the State shall
share.

(iv) The General Assembly may change by
statute the per pupil program level at any time. Unless
changed by statute, the per pupil program level in which the
State and the subdivisions share shall be determined as
described in (i) and (ii) above, except that in no event
shall the percentage increase of the per pupil program level
for a fiscal period relative to the per pupil program level
of the preceding fiscal period be greater than the average
of the annual percentage increases in the United States all
items unadjusted consumer price index for the Baltimore
metropolitan area and the same index for the Washington,
D.C. metropolitan area as measured from September of the
second preceding year to September preceding the beginning
of the fiscal year for which school aid calculations are
being made, or 8 percent, whichever is the lesser percentage
figure.

(3)  To be eligible to receive the State share of
basic current expenses, the county governing body shall levy
an annual tax sufficient to provide an amount of revenue for
elementary and secondary public education purposes equal to
the product of the wealth of the county and a uniform
percentage determined for each fiscal year. This uniform
percentage shall be determined as follows: The sum of the
basic current expenses to be shared for all of the counties
shall be multiplied, for the first $624 by 0.45, for the
balance of the per pupil basic current expenditure level as
provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection by 0.50, and
this product shall then be divided by the sum of the wealth
of all of the counties; the resulting quotient, expressed as
a percentage rounded to the fifth decimal place, is the
uniform percentage.

(4)  The State share of basic current expenses
for each county is the difference between the county share
calculated under paragraph (3) of this subsection and the
basic current expense to be shared, as indicated in
paragraph (2) of this subsection.