School Construction

An ambitious plan to secure tens of millions of dollars in state funding to fix Baltimore's dilapidated school buildings is the top priority for city officials in the General Assembly session that begins next week. The city's delegates and state senators are also united in opposition to Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to build a new juvenile jail in Baltimore. "The governor had planned on building a new juvenile jail. That kind of flies in the face of the philosophy for most of us," said Del. Curt Anderson, who chairs the city's House delegation.

After joining with the mayor in Annapolis to tesify on behalf of school construction funds, city schools CEO Andres Alonso told the city school board Tuesday night that the district had a "puncher's chance" at garnering enough support to secure a steady stream of funding from the state to pay back billions of dollars he wants to borrow to renovate the system's decrepit facilities. According to a story today by our City Hall Reporter Julie Scharper, MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blake and Alonso presented a united front in the statehouse on Tuesday supporting a bill that would guarantee the state's contribution to city school construction, allowing the city to leverage bonds with the proceed.

General Assembly leaders have agreed on a financing plan to allow Baltimore to spend nearly $1 billion on a sweeping program to replace and repair dilapidated school buildings over the next seven years. House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas Mike V. Miller said Monday they fully support and will line up votes for the plan, which would use state lottery revenue and the expertise of the Maryland Stadium Authority to borrow enough to build 15 new city schools and renovate dozens more.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore schools chief Andrés Alonso told legislators Friday that the city needs more flexibility in spending the school construction money it gets from the state — seeking a change that would let the school system take on many projects at once rather than seeking approval for one at a time. Testifying separately before the city's House delegation in Annapolis, the mayor and schools chief both expressed their commitment to develop a major construction program to improve Baltimore's dilapidated school buildings.

Since last November, Baltimore MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blakehas been trying to raise $11 million in new revenue for her Better Schools Initiative by continuing the city's existing bottle tax, increasing that tax by 150 percent, and contributing 10 percent of the projected revenue from the proposed downtown casino. In an editorial this week, the Baltimore Sun intimates that the City Council should accept this proposal, since "no viable alternative has emerged. " I beg to differ. One viable alternative, proposed months ago, would be to use a substantially larger percentage of the projected casino revenue.

A year ago, city officials left Annapolis distraught, their plans to obtain massive funding for school construction in the General Assembly's trash bin.   What a difference a year makes. On Wednesday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Schools CEO Andres Alonso and the city's elected officials celebrated what they're calling a banner year at the General Assembly in which they pushed for and won passage of a $1.1 billion funding plan for city schools' construction. “This is a special, unique effort for Baltimore City,” Rawlings-Blake said at a City Hall news conference.

WITH EVERY PASSING WEEK, the Anne Arundel County education system proves that it is incapable of managing school construction projects. Education planners still haven't explainedsatisfactorily why schools that were supposed to hold 900 students are being built for 1,500, and already they're on the defensive for a host of other planning snafus. Granted, anyone who's ever attempted a home renovation knows delays and higher-than-anticipated bids are part of the game. But such problems are occurring way too often in the school system.

TRYING TO FIND out what's really happened with Carroll County's school construction program is like trying to build the Great Wall of China one brick at a time.It's a seemingly endless task, wrapped in imperial infallibility -- with a giant stone wall at the end.The recent problems, failures, gaffes and obduracy of the school board and its administration in building and expanding schools have been well-publicized.Less familiar is the incredible series of delays and evasions used by the school system to avoid accepting responsibility and accounting to the public.

FOR A YEAR AND A half, Tom Florestano has sat on the Anne Arundel County school board, listening to this bunch of parents and that bunch of legislators tell him how their schools are ready to crumble to the ground.A few weeks ago it was a contingent from Marley Middle School, begging for $25 million in renovations. "You would have thought the place was Stalag 17," he says. "I finally said, 'Screw it, I am going to go out and take a look.' "So he did. And you know what he found? That Marley Middle's in pretty darned good shape.

Maryland's school systems got a whopping $106 million in state construction money this election year, the largest sum in two decades, as the counties struggle to keep up with a burgeoning school-age population and to replace seriously outdated facilities. That state outlay contrasts sharply with an annual average of $70 million since 1986.The challenge will be to spend that precious windfall wisely -- it's still only half of what systems say they need -- and to make sure that these badly needed new schools are completed competently and on time.