Comptroller Peter Franchot injected himself into the growing controversy over crowded Baltimore County schools yesterday, calling the situation in the Towson area "unacceptable."
"We need an entirely new school" in the area, he said after touring Rodgers Forge Elementary, which is more than 50 percent over its enrollment capacity. "The situation here is one of the worst I've seen in the state. I can't imagine anybody visiting this school" and concluding there wasn't a problem.
The comptroller denied his visit had anything to do with politics, but a spokeswoman for County Executive James T. Smith Jr. disagreed.
"The visit today was not about the children, but it was about Peter Franchot looking to get his name out in Baltimore County," said spokeswoman Ellen Kobler. "It's very clear that Franchot is engaged yet again in what appears to be another in a series of political stunts that don't benefit the children of Baltimore County."
Franchot and Smith, who will leave his post in two years after serving the limit of two terms, have increasingly been seen as potential Democratic rivals in a primary race for comptroller in 2010.
Franchot has come under fire recently from fellow Democrats for opposing Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to bring slot machines to Maryland, which is supported by the Maryland Association of Counties that Smith heads.
The comptroller said yesterday that he was not singling out Baltimore County with his tour of Rodgers Forge as well as Dogwood and Riderwood elementary schools. He said he has been visiting schools around the state in advance of the Board of Public Works' vote May 21 on $333 million in school construction funding.
Franchot promised yesterday to continue to raise questions about Maryland school crowding and whether the state should "take another look in the cookie jar" to find a solution.
He lamented that he would not have the opportunity to vote on funding for a new school in Towson when the board - made up of Franchot, O'Malley and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp - meets.
The Baltimore County school board postponed a decision last month on expanding Ridge Ruxton to accommodate 400 more students, and this month voted to conduct a feasibility study of options to alleviate the crowding. The Ridge Ruxton expansion proposal, together with another plan to make smaller additions at schools along York Road, would add as many as 900 seats in the Towson area.
