WorWic funding to be cut by $1.5M per year under proposed budget from MD. Governor Wes Moore

MARYLAND – Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s proposed budget for FY2025 would see a significant funding cut for the state’s community colleges. WorWic Community College in Salisbury is expected to take a permanent cut of $1.5 million per year under the tentative proposal.

The move comes as the institution enters only its second year of full funding under the CADE Formula. The school received the full 29 cents on the dollar match for a total $33 million budget per year.

In those two years, President Dr. Deborah Casey tells 47 ABC WMDT that the school saw multiple infrastructure investments, an increase in hiring, and a 10% increase each year in enrollment.

However, the cuts would threaten to unwind that progress, according to Dr. Casey. She says the costs could only be passed onto the students in the form of tuition or scale in the faculty.

“Small, rural community colleges’ operating budgets are quite small already. So, when the state determines that they would like to cut the operating budget for us, that means that we have to put that on the backs of our students,” said Dr. Casey. “I would say almost 85%, if not more, of our budget is salaries.”

Dr. Casey says the school has more than 40% of students enrolled at or below the poverty line. It is those students who would be most affected by an increase in tuition, or a scaling back of faculty across fields such as manufacturing, nursing, public safety and other industries that work to develop a workforce that is needed in the state.

“The governor’s mission and vision around making sure that childhood poverty does not exist, or that we can address it, is significant in the Lower Eastern shore, in the regions that WorWic Community College serves,” Dr. Casey said.

Dr. Casey believes that while Governor Moore did not make the choice lightly, the full scope of the cuts could be even more expensive to the state.

“Our skilled trades area, welding, power line workers, and manufacturing, are all part of our local community, we need to make sure we’re continuing to meet the needs by offering those types of programs at the community colleges, our health professions in rural communities are so vital; nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, assisting phlebotomists, certified nursing assistant,” Dr.Casey said.

However, the cuts are not set in stone.

Delegate Sheree Sample Hughes says lawmakers have a newly added ability to add the funding back in for individual line items.

It’s something she will be pushing her colleagues to do, saying WorWic is too important to cut back from.

“So many industries can continue to thrive by having the partnerships with our community colleges and getting people in a space where they are educated, they are qualified, and they can be able to sustain themselves and make our community stronger,” said Del. Sample Hughes.

Del. Sample Hughes says she plans on meeting with Dr. Casey to further outline ways to help the school, as well as meeting with Governor Moore to try and find a way to help keep the school fully funded.

“I’ve seen the growth in particular on our Eastern Shore community colleges. We’re fighting for the numerous lives that have been touched as a result of persons being educated,” said Del. Sample Hughes.

In response, the Office of Governor Wes Moore issued the following statement to 47ABC:

       The proposed adjustments to the State’s formula for Cade funding to Maryland’s Community Colleges help rein in the level of funding increases that the Cade formula experienced since the pandemic. The actual amount of total Cade funding after the proposed formula change is expected to remain above the amount paid before significant increases that began in FY2022.

      Over the past 4 years, the amount of Cade funding to 15 community colleges increased by $143M from $250M in FY2020 to $393M in FY2024–an increase of 57% despite total enrollment declining by 20%. The Governor’s proposed FY2025 funding of $375M is $125M more than the colleges received as recently as FY2020.

     The Moore-Miller administration worked with discipline to craft a budget that will not only help close structural gaps, but will drive economic growth and create long-term fiscal sustainability for Maryland. The administration engaged in months-long conversations with state and local leaders about the difficult choices ahead–including concerns about education, public safety, affordability, and building a more competitive, more sustainable economy. 

     When approaching the budget this year, the administration focused on driving economic growth without placing increased burdens on the backs of working families in Maryland. The governor’s budget is a fiscally responsible plan that puts record investments in K-12 education and responds to our challenges and will make Maryland safer, more affordable, and more competitive.