Anne Arundel will be examining schools near Fort Meade to see what, if any, expansions are needed to accommodate growth from the Base Realignment and Closure process.
The approved $1.2 billion county budget includes feasibility studies for three schools to determine what level of expansion is needed for the more than 4,000 new households BRAC is expected to generate in the next five years.
“It could range from nothing to cosmetic work to a new building,” said Alex Szachnowicz, director of facilities for the county school system.
Two of the schools ? West Meade and Pershing Hill Elementary schools ? are expected to gain the bulk of the 1,700 students from BRAC expansion.
The other school, Northeast High School, is not expected to be affected by BRAC, Szachnowicz said.
However, other schools need feasibility studies as well, he said.
The county scratched three other studies at Bell Grove and Annapolis Elementary schools and the Phoenix Center, an alternative learning school.
Postponing the studies could delay efforts to handle population influxes.
“Without those studies, you can?t apply for state support to build the project,” Szachnowicz said.
The education budget also includes $133 million for school construction, including renovations and replacing temporary buildings with permanent structures.
Overall, the education budget received about half of what it had requested, which had some on the County Council concerned about the quality of classroom teaching.
School officials have said budget cuts would affect programs and class sizes.
“Although we did the best we could, what level of performance will theschool system be able to achieve?” asked Councilman Joshua Cohen, D-District 6.
