Md. Senate Passes Budget, Trims Initiatives - washingtonpost.com

Debate in the Democratic-led chamber was sharply limited yesterday, a move that angered Republicans, several of whom argued that senators should have made deeper cuts to what Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's), chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee, said was already a "frugal" budget....

State aid to public schools would increase by 3.5 percent. That is less than would have been mandated under a 2002 school funding measure known as the Thornton law. Lawmakers revised a formula in the law during a special session last fall called by O'Malley to address the state's long-term finances....

Since the special session, at which lawmakers raised taxes by $1.4 billion a year, the state's economy has been more sluggish than expected, prompting analysts to revise downward projected revenue by $333 million for the current fiscal year and the upcoming one.