The Maryland General Assembly’s final fiscal year 2026 budget plan would reduce funding for the University System of Maryland by $155 million.
The Maryland Senate and House of Delegates approved the plan during the last day of its legislative session on Monday. The $67 billion spending plan would also create more than $1.6 billion in new tax revenue for the state, two new tax brackets for wealthier Maryland residents and new taxes on certain goods, such as a 3 percent sales tax on data and IT services.
The plan will now be sent to Gov. Wes Moore to be signed into law.
Under the governor’s original budget proposed in January, the university system’s funding would be reduced by $111 million. Moore’s second supplemental budget, a framework released in March that guides legislators to passing a final plan, included an additional $44 million reduction for the system.
The university system must submit its plan for the cuts to the state’s budget and management department by May 1, according to the second supplemental budget.
Under the $111 million original reduction, the university system could cut 400 jobs from across its universities and limit operational funding, system chancellor Jay Perman told lawmakers during hearings in February.
[USM faces additional $44 million in proposed budget cuts]
The university system did not immediately respond to The Diamondback’s request for comment. The University of Maryland deferred comment to the university system.
Throughout the legislative session, lawmakers faced a projected $3 billion deficit and threats from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to reduce federal funding for Medicaid and shrink the federal workforce.
“We crafted a balanced approach that involved difficult but necessary decisions,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said at a news conference Tuesday. “These actions were necessary and essential to stabilize our state’s finances while safeguarding the critical services that many vulnerable Marylanders absolutely rely on.”
Ferguson said the new tax measures are intended to create a “more progressive and fair approach towards taxation in Maryland.”
State Senate and House Republicans spoke against the tax increase during Monday’s final budget hearing.
“I know there was a lot of hard work done on the budget and I know it could’ve probably been worse from a tax perspective, but we’re still left with a large burden being added, and in many cases, being added to the very job creators and folks we say we’re trying to attract,” Minority Whip Sen. Justin Ready (R-Carroll and Frederick) said at the hearing.
The budget bills passed mostly along party lines in both the Senate and House.
