School Construction

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, visiting Annapolis to make the case for the city's $2.4 billion school construction plan, has finished her meeting with House Speaker Michael E. Busch and has arrived at the State House for talks with Gov. Martin O'Malley. Rawlings-Blake, accompanied by Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso, met for about an hour with  the speaker in the House office building. The two were expected to outline Alonso's plan to finance the massive rebuilding of the state's oldest school system by converting the city's annual allocation of school construction money into a guaranteed block grant that would let it issue bonds.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and city schools chief executive Andres Alonso met with Gov. Martin O'Malley for about an hour and a quarter Monday evening as they made their rounds of Annapolis seeking support for Baltimore's $2.4 billion school construction plan. After emerging from the governor's office, the two rushed to keep an appointment with Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. As he boarded an elevator with the mayor, Alonso said the meeting had gone well. "The governor is always an ally," Alonso said.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge's decision to void the proposed $1.5 billion public-private partnership to redevelop the State Center office complex in Baltimore puts the state in a severe bind. It now faces both the immediate, practical concerns about how to replace aging and inadequate office space that is increasingly expensive to maintain, and the broader implications of a ruling that could, theoretically, put at risk other public-private partnerships that are under way or in the works.

A proposal making the rounds in Annapolis to enlist the Maryland Stadium Authority in overseeing a massive overhaul of Baltimore's aging school buildings is clearly an attempt to bring the issue to the front burner in this year's General Assembly session. As a practical matter, there's little enough difference between this idea and one previously put forward by city schools CEO Andrés Alonso that it's worth adopting if doing so would prompt lawmakers to support the investment necessary to meet Baltimore's massive needs.

Some Baltimore legislators, determined to win state approval for the city's ambitious plan to launch a $2.4 billion, 10-year overhaul of its aging school facilities, are considering bringing in the Maryland Stadium Authority to provide construction expertise and financial oversight. The lawmakers are concerned that some state leaders are questioning whether the city school system has the ability to manage a project of that scope. One proposal is to set up a new authority to oversee construction contracting and monitoring of projects.

State lawmakers appeared to warm Thursday to the Baltimore school system's $2.4 billion building modernization plan that received a chilly reception last year, but the blueprint fell short of garnering the endorsement of the state's public school construction agency. Baltimore City schools CEO Andrés Alonso and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake presented a united front before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, where the two leaders urged members to support a plan that relies on borrowing billions of dollars and a $32 million annual commitment from the state for the next several decades.

Dallas Dance has been superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools for less than half an academic year, but he is proving himself a quick study. The $1.3 billion budget he has proposed for the next fiscal year strikes the kind of balance that county leaders generally love best: progress with penny-pinching. The usual penurious critics may latch onto the fact that he is seeking a substantial budget increase - $41.9 million, or 3.3 percent - at a time of continued economic challenges for the county (including the closing of the Sparrows Point steel mill)

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz on Tuesday reiterated a familiar theme in stating that his top priority for the 2013 General Assembly session, which opens tomorrow in Annapolis, will be funding for education. But Kamenetz also named legislation related to guns and ammunition among his priorities as well, saying such measures are directly connected to school safety concerns. In a statement on his legislative priorities, the executive noted his recent letter to state and federal legislators urging measures that would halt exceptions to national background checks and stop the sale of assault weapons and “high capacity” ammunition magazines of more than 10 rounds.

Gov. Martin O'Malley said Monday that his administration proposes spending $336 million on school construction aid next year, including $25 million to add air conditioning to older schools. At a news conference at Overlea High School —- more than 50 years old and without air conditioning — O'Malley said the construction spending would yield an estimated 8,199 jobs. The money set aside for air conditioning addresses an issue of particular concern in Baltimore County, which has about 65 of the 180 schools in the state that lack cooling systems.