Anne Arundel County would lose between $6 and $7 million in state education funding next year under the most drastic and politically risky budget cuts proposed by Gov. Martin O'Malley.

As part of his plan to address the state's deficit, which currently stands at $1.5 billion, Mr. O'Malley is proposing to change how education dollars are handed out to local governments.

In fiscal 2009 and 2010, funding would be set at $6,694 per pupil, but each jurisdiction still would be guaranteed at least a 1 percent increase in funding each of those two years. In total, county school systems would lose about $189 million of education funds...