A Maintenance of Effort provision requires that an entity continue to “do its fair share” in providing funding to an agency under its jurisdiction in order to be eligible for financial assistance for that agency from another entity. For example, federal funding often comes with a Maintenance of Effort provision that requires states to continue to meet a certain level of funding for a state agency, such as education, in order to be eligible for federal funds to assist that agency. The Maintenance of Effort typically references funding levels for a given year. For example, states might be required to fund K-12 at or above the level they provided that agency in FY2008 in order to be eligible for certain federal funding to benefit education.
