Homebuilders welcome a proposal to revamp how the Anne Arundel County Council will calculate the number of students at county schools.
“I think it?s very forward-thinking … as we have a disproportionate number of age-restricted housing that is placing an undue burden on the tax base,” said Susan Stroud, government affairs director for the Home Builders Association of Maryland.
Councilmen Jamie Benoit, D-District 4, and Ron Dillon, R-District 3, have proposed increasing school capacity rates to 105 percent for elementary schools and 110 percent for middle and high schools.
The idea is to create a “realistic” rating as opposed to the current system, which has some under-capacity schools closed to new students, the councilmen said.
Benoit said the bill is not intended to overcrowd schools and added that school population is expected to decline in the next three years.
“I think what it is doing is bringing school populations in line with the facilities we built,” Benoit said.
The current school capacity chart has denied residential development by closing schools to new students. As a result, many builders are turning their land into senior housing, which does not pay an impact fee for schools.
“The big elephant in the room is that we have 10,000 empty seats in the system, so how can we possibly have a school capacity problem?” said John Pantelides, director of the homebuilding advocacy group Alliance for Fair Land Use.
But some officials are hesitant to support a bill that could increase classroom sizes.
“Fundamentally, there needs to be a change, but I don?t know if this submission is exactly the way to address it,” said Councilman Ed Reilly, R-District 7.
“Any time you?re adding overflow to schools, I have concerns,” said Council Chairwoman Cathy Vitale, R-District 5.
County Executive John R. Leopold “is not supporting anything that adds to the overcrowding issue,” said Alan Friedman, Leopold?s government affairs director.
Bill Jones, executive director of the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County, said his group has yet to take a position on the bill, but the association typical “opposes classroom overcrowding.”
Alan Szachnowicz, facilities director for the school system, and school board President Tricia Johnson could not be reached for comment.
