The 430th Session of the Maryland General Assembly began on January 11, 2012 and we will meet in Annapolis for 90 days to act on more than 2,300 bills including the State’s annual budget.

The budget will dominate most of our discussions. Marriage equality legislation will return. And, of course, we’ll be busy with legislative redistricting.

For me, in my role as education subcommittee chair, I’ll be busy working for you on something called Maintenance of Effort, which has to do with education finance and how the state and local jurisdictions continue to partner to educate our children (I am happy to answer any of your questions about this, just email or call me). Ultimately, our investments in education have made a difference over the years — Maryland has been ranked #1 in education across the nation for 3 years in a row. However, we shouldn’t pat ourselves on the back until we are #1 for all kids.