Half of the library shelves remain bare at Carver Vocational Technical High School in Baltimore City. Wires hang exposed on the halls. Half of the students do not even have a locker because so many are broken beyond repair.

Six miles and seemingly another world away, movers are putting the final touches on a renovation at the private Gilman School. The architect fitted all the classrooms with wireless Internet access, restored the stained glass windows in the chandelier-lighted and wood-paneled library and replaced all the chalkboards with dry-erase boards and interactive white boards, which allow teachers to project Web sites.