Starr requests 9-percent increase in construction funds

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr is recommending a 9 percent — $129.7 million — increase to the school system’s six-year construction budget, despite efforts by both the County Council and County Executive Ike Leggett to cut construction spending in the county. The increase is necessary to address increasing enrollment that has created overcrowded schools, as well as schools that are badly in need of modernization and repair, Starr wrote in a letter to Board of Education President Christopher Barclay.