New Elementary

Though most say bigger is not better for school size, the Howard County Board of Education was left with little choice when it voted unanimously to raise the maximum capacity of new elementary schools from 596 seats to 788. "With the increase in population density and the county's zoning, the concept of small, intimate schools is not possible," said Sandra H. French, school board chairman. The decision has raised questions from community members who wonder what it will mean for their children's educations.

As school enrollment predictions continue to change, Howard County Council members sought reassurance from school officials yesterday at a meeting in the George Howard Building that the future will be more predictable than the past. The latest charts introduced at Monday night's County Council meeting, for example, show Northfield Elementary School in Ellicott City just under the legal limit for crowding - by 0.4 of 1 percent The school was at 115 percent in a chart two weeks ago, but the figure was recalculated to 114.6 percent.

As school officials and government leaders from around Maryland make their annual trek to Annapolis today to press for school construction money, a key state committee has added dozens of projects to a list of those slated to receive state funding this year. The Interagency Committee on School Construction is recommending that 162 projects receive money from the approximately $281 million that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has included in his proposed capital budget. Before Ehrlich's announcement two weeks ago on school spending, the committee had issued recommendations that state money go to 108 projects.

The Maryland Board of Public Works doled out yesterday the last of a $125.9 million pot of state funds for school construction and renovation, more than last year but a far cry from the hundreds of millions the state's 24 school systems say they need. The money, which exceeded last year's allocation by $9.4 million, will pay or help pay for 106 projects statewide, including a new elementary school in Baltimore County and additions at seven Howard County schools. The $50.4 million approved yesterday and the $75.5 million granted earlier amount to a third of the total requested.

When it comes to the latest round of school redistricting, Howard County's current school board members make the final decision - but it will be up to those elected Nov. 7 to oversee the process of shifting more than 1,000 pupils among various elementary and middle schools next year. Little wonder that the 10 candidates running for school board are following the process so closely, even though this year's school redistricting is limited to fewer than a dozen schools. Almost every candidate attended a recent "attendance area adjustment" presentation to learn about the system's plan to shift elementary and middle school pupils in preparation for a new elementary school in Ellicott City, to open in August.

Almost 800 students in five elementary schools will be affected by redistricting next fall if Howard County school board members approve a preliminary boundary-line proposal presented to parents this week.The proposal calls for a shift of some 788 students from five elementary schools into two new ones. This is little more than half the 1,400 students moved this school year and about a third of the nearly 2,000 moved the year before. No middle or high school students will be moved next fall, according to the plan.

Howard County's long struggle to eliminate school crowding seemed won over the past two years when no elementary or middle schools were projected beyond capacity, but this year six primary schools are on the annual list of future trouble spots. Unlike past years, crowded classrooms are predicted in older neighborhoods instead of in newer, more rural areas where multimillion-dollar schools were built early in the decade. In addition, school officials say newer apartment and condominium projects along U.S. 1, once expected to produce few school-age children, are outstripping predictions - something that could have implications for redevelopment of the town center in Columbia with 5,500 homes and apartments.

Another round of redrawing school attendance areas has begun in Howard County under a revamped redistricting process that school officials hope will create more stability instead of the anxiety associated with this difficult task. On hand for the first time this year is a feasibility study that outlines a plan for the opening of a new elementary school in Dayton next year and a proposal for setting boundary lines in 2007, when a second elementary school is to open in Ellicott City. The study, which looks at future capital needs and redistricting over a 10-year period, was produced by the school system's Office of Geographical Information Systems.

At age 5, Gloria Horneff knew she wanted to be a teacher.What she didn't know was that one day she would be top administrator of a new elementary school in South Carroll."

When Harford public schools open four years from now for a new school season, halls and classrooms could be packed by more than 20,000 elementary school students -- about 4,000 more than were enrolled this year.Ensuring there are enough schools and classrooms to handle that influx in September 1996 is one reason County Executive Eileen M.Rehrmann is proposing that Harford venture into the bond market beginning in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.Rehrmann advocates borrowing an estimated $63.8 million on the bond market over the next six years to pay for the county's share of construction costs of new schools and for the high cost of sealing and closing the Tollgate landfill.