HARRY HUGHES, Governor

439

establishing a new compensatory aid program; providing that
a certain sum may be used to defray certain fiscal year 1984
costs; reauthorizing and extending the program for aid to
vocational-technical education; establishing an
Accountability Advisory Task Force and providing for its
duties and staff and, appointment of its members, and
termination; establishing certain reporting requirements for
county school boards and for the Task Force to assure
accountability under this Act; providing a penalty for
certain failure to comply with the accountability provisions
of this Act; repealing obsolete references; defining certain
terms; making the provisions of this Act severable; and
generally relating to the basis for calculating increased
State public education aid and measures to provide
accountability for its expenditure.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,

Article - Education
Section 5-202 and 5-205
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1978 Volume and 1983 Supplement)

BY adding to

Article - Education

Section 5-401 through 5-486 5-407, inclusive, to be under
the new subtitle "Subtitle 4. Accountability
Advisory Task Force"
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1978 Volume and 1983 Supplement)

Preamble

The General Assembly supports the principle that every child
should receive an excellent fundamental a quality education with
the costs of that education shared by the State and local
governments. In providing the largest 5-year increase in State
aid to public schools in the State's history, the General
Assembly recognizes the need to raise the level of State
assistance while increasing equalization and making significant
strides towards achieving the goal of equalizing 75 percent of
the average cost of a basic education as established by Chapter
531 of the Laws of 1980. The purpose of the aid is to assure
quality education. However, this purpose cannot be achieved
unless local governments also contribute to the increasing costs
of education.

The General Assembly continues to support the principle of
local control of the public schools. Local decision-making has
been and will continue to undergird the structure of education
governance in Maryland. However, local control must be balanced
with the necessity of assuring the public that the massive