The future of Harford County schools could be in leasing space to Starbucks and opening airwaves to cell phone towers under a proposal by Board of Education Vice President Tom Fidler.
Fidler went before the County Council on Tuesday to introduce alternative methods for funding county construction projects that would let officials bypass the bureaucracy of state funding ? but only if the state first grants the county permission through enabling legislation.
“We need to do more with less, and right now, the law prohibits that,” Fidler said. He cited the example of the school system?s new Bel Air headquarters, which was built and paid for with the help of a private developer and is currently being leased back by the administration.
“We were paying rent on 14 different facilities across the county ? but we were able to fix up a situation where, dollar for dollar, our rent can pay for a first-class building,” Fidler said.
Other ways to make money for schools through the private sector might be leasing first-floor space to retailers like Starbucks or Panera Bread, allowing wireless companies to build towers on school property, or charging more substantial rents to community groups and rec leagues that use school facilities,he said.
Such private-sector investments would allow the county to bypass the long approval process required when using state funding for any project and reduce the competition for money stretched thin by mounting deficits and demands, Fidler said. Money would be saved on construction costs that rise with each year a project is delayed.
County Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti, a Havre de Grace Democrat, said she would work through the Maryland Association of Counties toward changing the state laws and allow greater privatization of school construction.
“We?re facing a state deficit, and we need a contingency plan for when that happens,” Lisanti said. “It hurts the level of service you provide and it hurts those big projects.”
