Howard County Appeals to State for Millions in School Construction Funding

Howard County schools asked the state Thursday for millions in funding to make up for what officials said was a budget strained by growth along the Route 1 corridor and among low-income residents.

The county has seen a population boom over the past decade. Between 2000 and 2010, Howard County’s population increased from 247,842 to 287,085—or by 16 percent. The population in Elkridge increased from 30,000 to 40,000 in that time as more residential areas were built.

The number of disadvantaged in Howard County also saw an uptick.

“Our homeless population has grown from 365 in 2008 to 589 in 2010-2011 school year,” said Ray Brown, chief operating officer for the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS), during a hearing before state budget officials. He said the Free and Reduced Meals program included 22 percent of students.

“Between student services to those populations and student transportation, this year we had to increase our operating budget by almost half a million dollars to address that need.”

Brown was one of dozens of administrators who went to the state’s education headquarters in Baltimore City on Dec. 1 to plead his case for more funding from the Interagency Committee on School Construction (IAC), which doles out $250 million allocated for capital projects statewide for FY 2013.

“We’re looking for something between $75 and $100 million,” said Joel Gallihue, manager of school planning for HCPSS, of the school system's capital budget.

Funding comes from both state and county governments.

For FY 2013, HCPSS said it has requested $38.152 million from the state. 

“We make sure we get as much of that piece of the pie that we're going to get," said Gallihue. "it’s a shame to leave it on the table. That’s additional money that would have to come out of the local coffers.”

According to IAC staff, of the 21 capital projects that Howard County submitted to the state, these were recommended by staff as of Dec. 1 to proceed through additional review:

• Phelps Luck Elementary School renovation
• New elementary school on Ducketts Lane (planning)
• Gorman Crossing Elementary School addition (planning and construction)
• Running Brook Elementary School addition (planning and construction)

Following a presentation by St. Mary's County officials, who asked for one school construction project with a price tag of $2 million, Howard County officials sat down with state planners and talked about growth.

“A good percentage of our request is to address growth in the Route 1 corridor for the new elementary school and middle school,” said Ken Roey, director of facilities for HCPSS, adding that the growth “is related to Fort Meade and the Base Realignment and Closure [BRAC].”

Earlier this year, the IAC approved the majority of Howard County's 24 requests for FY 2012, but two requests related to the new elementary school for Elkridge were deferred because more planning and design progress were needed, according to IAC documentation.

"We don’t put our state dollars into projects that are not going to move forward in that fiscal year," said David Lever, executive director for Maryland's Public School Construction Program, an agency within the IAC.

Once the IAC deems projects eligible for funding, Lever said the state takes into account how each county has prioritized them.

Last year, planning and funding for the  were prioritized as 19 and 20, respectively, on a list of 24 Howard County projects.

"We can only go so far down the list," said Lever.

This year, Howard County placed the elementary school as 5 and 6 and the middle school as 12 and 13 on its list of priorities, according to Gallihue.

The IAC will publish its recommendations for the Maryland Board of Public Works to review by Dec. 31.

After three more rounds of review and recommendations, the Board of Public Works and the IAC give final approvals in May 2012.

This article has been corrected at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 2 to reflect that Ray Brown tesified at the hearing, not Raymond Wacks (the county's budget administrator) as previously stated. It was also updated at 11 a.m. on Dec. 5 to clarify that HCPSS has asked for $38.152 million from the state of Maryland.