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ANNAPOLIS — Local governments are not getting the sweeping changes to Maryland's maintenance-of-effort law they once envisioned, which could put them and school systems in the same bind next fiscal year, state officials said this week.

Under the state's maintenance-of-effort law, local governments are required to fund their school systems at the same level as the previous year. Governments that fail to do so face a reduction in state aid for their school systems.

With just under a month left in this year's legislative session, which ends April 12, lawmakers are still considering legislation to address the maintenance-of-effort law.

House Speaker Pro Tem Adrienne A. Jones (D-Dist. 10) of Woodstock has proposed legislation to allow more time on the maintenance-of-effort waiver process.

Under current law, local governments must decide by April 1 whether or not to apply for a maintenance-of-effort waiver. The state board then has until May 15 to inform the local government of its decision.

If passed, Jones' bill gives local governments until May 1 to apply for a waiver and the state school board until June 1 to decide whether the waiver should be granted.

Also under the law, the state board must consider if the economic downturn is affecting more than one county and if the local government has a history of exceeding its maintenance-of-effort requirement. The board is also supposed to consider a waiver if the local government and local school board have agreed to the waiver, according to Jones' proposal.

The law is a step in the right direction, but "doesn't have the teeth" the counties wanted, Michael Sanderson, director of the Maryland Association of Counties, said Wednesday.

The group wants stronger legislation to require the state school board to grant a waiver if the economy goes sour and the local agencies agree on the waiver, Sanderson said.

Last year, government leaders from Prince George's and Montgomery counties sought waivers from the state school board on its maintenance-of-effort requirement for fiscal 2010. Montgomery school leaders supported their government's waiver request, while Prince George's school leaders did not.

The General Assembly approved a bill in February that repeals a $23.4 million fine assessed to the Montgomery County Public Schools system after the county's plan to fund education was deemed illegal.

Legislators have already passed a bill, which takes effect in June, to require the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee to study the calculation of the penalty and decide who should be assessed the penalty.

Jones' bill assumes more counties will apply for maintenance-of-effort waivers in fiscal 2011.

The weaker maintenance-of-effort legislation comes as counties brace for lawmakers to shift some of the cost of teacher pensions off the state ledgers and onto local governments. Sanderson wrote a blog entry expressing that fear Wednesday.

Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach said Wednesday he still supports counties covering the cost of teacher pensions, even though the state's two largest counties released budgets this week that lay off employees and furlough workers.

In Rockville, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett released a $4.3 billion spending plan that would mean as many as 232 county employees would lose their jobs and most government employees will be forced to take 10 days of unpaid leave.

Leggett (D) said Montgomery would once again apply for a waiver of its maintenance-of-effort requirement.

"We'll make them an offer they can't refuse," Leggett said.

In Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) unveiled a $2.6 billion budget. He reduces spending in nearly every department, and proposed $1.61 billion for the county school system, $15 million below the mandate.

Staff writers Erin Cunningham and Daniel Valentine contributed to this report.