Maryland’s landmark education reform known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future comes with budget busting costs. A new poll suggests voters may be wary of higher taxes even for better schools. (File photo by Danielle Gaines/Maryland Matters)
Marylanders support improving public school education, but a poll released Tuesday suggests there might be a limit to what people are willing to pay.
One in every two Maryland voters said they oppose increasing taxes to pay for the education reforms known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, according to Annapolis-based Gonzales Research & Media.
“Maryland has to balance its budget every year. That’s the law,” pollster Patrick Gonzales said. “The Blueprint and the budget are at odds with each other right now. There’s no easy out politically.”
Gonzales said past polling has shown Maryland voters strongly supportive of funding public education. More recently, the pollster said there is evidence to suggest voters are feeling the pinch of a sluggish economy and high prices. He said there is evidence voters today are suffering from tax fatigue.
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Gonzales surveyed 804 registered voters who said they are likely to vote in the next election. The poll, conducted March 5-9 asked voters about their willingness to pay more in taxes for education.
The poll has a margin of error of 3.5%.
Maryland faces a roughly $3 billion deficit for the fiscal 2026 budget year. And while the costs of the Blueprint for the coming year is fully covered, that isn’t so in future years.
The state will soon exhaust the special fund meant to cover the costs. Those costs will be shifted to the state’s general fund budget. That shift drives projected deficits that explode to $6.2 billion by fiscal 2030.
“State government is in a tough spot,” Gonzales said. “It mandated this spending, and it’s got to solve this problem somehow. ”
In response, 45% of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay more in taxes to ensure that $10 billion is spent on public education over the next three years. Of those, 25% said they would strongly favor higher taxes earmarked for K-12 education.
Democrats represented the most support for the question, at 63%.
But 50% told the pollster they would oppose higher taxes even for education. Among those who oppose higher taxes, 4 voters in 5 said they strongly oppose such a move.
Unsurprisingly, 87% of Republicans said they oppose increases in state and local taxes for education.
Independent voters were more evenly split with 48% opposing higher taxes and 44% saying they would support increased taxes for education.
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