February 16, 2006|By SARA NEUFELD | SARA NEUFELD,SUN REPORTER
A day after Baltimore's school board received a proposal to close five school buildings by fall, school officials unveiled a $2.7 billion, 10-year plan that calls for building 26 schools and shifting thousands of children from middle schools to buildings housing prekindergarten though eighth grade.
Under the plan, the system would shut down 11 of its 23 conventional middle schools and convert 45 schools -- 43 elementaries and two middle schools -- to combined elementary/middle schools. The system would close 16 school buildings in the next three years in response to declining enrollment and state demands to operate more efficiently. Baltimore schools currently have space for 125,000 students, but only 85,000 students are enrolled.
The plan does not say where the financially strapped system will find $2.7 billion to build schools and renovate existing ones. No one in the school system realistically expects to receive all of that money, which is nearly 11 times the entire state budget for school construction for next fiscal year. But they say they want to publicize the extent of the city schools' needs.
Brian D. Morris, the city school board chairman, said he knows the school board has to set priorities within the plan. "It does not diminish the very clear need for new schools in the city," he added. Morris said the construction of two or three new schools "would go a long way toward rebuilding the public concept that ... the city and the state find it important to put our students in good environments."
Morris said Mayor Martin O'Malley has shown his commitment by creating a $75 million fund for construction of city schools. O'Malley is a Democratic candidate for governor and a frequent cheerleader for the city schools. Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and state Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick are frequent critics.
Regardless of how much money the school system is able to secure for construction and renovations, there is a part of the plan that it must implement: the part that would shutter school buildings to reduce the school system's operating space by 15 percent, or 2.7 million square feet, over the next three years. Otherwise, state officials say, they will withhold school construction money.
The plan would reduce the number of school buildings in the city from 171 to 155.
The school board is to vote on both the long-term plan and this year's school closures March 28. Then, system officials say, they can tell the state they are meeting their end of the bargain to close schools. In turn, they plan to demand that the state step up with funding for desperately needed construction and renovations.
David Lever, executive director of the state's school construction program, said it was a useful exercise for the system to develop the $2.7 billion plan, adding that he developed something similar when he oversaw school buildings in Prince George's County in 2000. "As a statement of overall need, it's probably not unrealistic," he said. But he said it will be a challenge for the school system not to raise communities' hopes unrealistically. He said the release of the plan "creates an urgent need to prioritize."
Cecilia Januszkiewicz, the state's budget secretary, said the state's capital budget for next fiscal year -- including construction for universities, hospitals and redevelopment -- is $690 million. Of that, $261 million is for construction in Maryland's 24 school systems.
The plan, as well as the recommendations for this year's school closures, grew out of 58 public meetings over the past four months. Community committees in eight regions of the city held public hearings and compiled surveys, then forwarded their suggestions to a citywide committee that made the final proposals.
While much of the debate around the city centered around the possibility that several of Baltimore's sprawling high school campuses would close, in the end, many high schools were spared. The plan does not involve closing Patterson and Northwestern high schools as previously discussed -- an idea that generated substantial community opposition. School system officials have said they cannot afford to keep both Northwestern and Pimlico Middle School open, so Pimlico Middle is now slated to close.
The plan also involves the conversion of a handful of schools to early childhood centers as the school system works to meet a state requirement to offer pre-kindergarten.
System officials believe they can improve dismal middle school test scores by placing pupils in combined elementary/middle schools, which are smaller and offer a more personalized environment than conventional middle schools.
sara.neufeld@baltsun.com
For more on school changes, go to baltimoresun.com/schoolslist
Affected schools
The following city school buildings would close but some would move to other locations:
