Calling the process “demeaning” and unnecessary, Senate President Thomas Mike Miller told the Board of Public Wednesday that school construction projects should be “decided on the merits” and not based on the political power of those who come pleading for it. Sen. Patrick Hogan, head of the Montgomery senators and vice chairman of the budget committee, agreed. “Please forget about the county or the city,” Hogan told the board made up of the governor, comptroller and treasurer. “Fund the school based on the kids.”
While lawmakers and office-holders from all over the state seem to agree, they still showed up as begging supplicants, appealing all the school construction and renovation projects they had been denied. By dint of numbers, they also reminded Gov. Martin O?Malley and Comptroller Peter Franchot of their crucial support in the last election.
Only about a quarter of projects in the state have been approved, and O?Malley?s infusion of $150 million more, for a record total of $400 million, will only fund about 40 percent of the requests.
“We have the second-oldest school stock in the state,” said Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith, with 3.3 million square feet of school space built before 1960. Yet the county got only $28 million of the $95 million it had requested. “It?s critical that get we get additional funds.”
“The bottom line is it?s going to cost more for the schools,” Smith said. Estimates for new projects are going up 25 percent to 75 percent. “That?s another reason it?s so critical to do it as quickly as we can.”
Anne Arundel County School Superintendent Kevin Maxwell, joined by executive John Leopold, said the county needed another $19 million for three critical projects, including a Gambrills area elementary school, Arundel High School and Severna Park Middle School.
