School Projects

Pinched between her supporters' demands for a large increase in school funding and debts left by the last administration, Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens repeated yesterday her pledge not to raise taxes.Her determination to keep this campaign promise, however, is threatening to collide with the centerpiece of her election platform: that she would increase the county's financial support for the public schools.Six weeks into office, Owens the fiscal conservative is looking into the mirror and seeing her worst enemy: Owens, the liberal hero of the teachers union.

Concerned by cost overruns and other problems in the board of education's $106 million school construction program, Carroll County Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier called yesterday for more government control over school projects."

School officials statewide -- in the midst of the largest construction and repair campaign in recent history -- worry that fierce competition for reliable contractors may drive up costs and delay badly needed projects.Blessed by $257.5 million in state school construction money this year, school systems are putting up modern buildings and replacing everything from the pipes and wiring to the roofs on aging structures.But they've run into snags: In Anne Arundel County recently, officials found no takers when they put out bids for installation of a sprinkler system at South River High School.

ONE RECENT WEEKDAY evening I was racing down the Jones Falls Expressway with my eye on the clock and my 14-year-old son in the front seat of the car. The kid and I were running out of time and light. We had to get to a cemetery before sundown.Why would anyone need to get to a cemetery before dark? If you guessed "last-minute school project," you must be a veteran parent. As a veteran, you know the basics of this drama.Basic No. 1: Procrastination: Even though the assignment was made some time ago, the kid becomes concerned about it only as the deadline nears.

In their first public meeting to address school construction problems, the county commissioners demanded yesterday to know why a wastewater treatment plant was built illegally at Francis Scott Key High School.For two hours, the commissioners and the Board of Education grilled school administrators on construction woes that could lead to the dismantling of the plant, cost thousands of dollars in state penalties and result in delays on other school projects."My bottom line is how much is it going to cost us?"

THE BALTIMORE COUNTY Council tonight has an opportunity to make sure the quest for money to fix deteriorating school buildings does not devolve into a contest over which communities can yell the loudest.The council is scheduled to vote on whether to use $1 million remaining from cuts it made to this year's budget for a comprehensive, expert survey of the condition of all 160 school buildings in the county.Outside consultants will assess each school's physical problems -- everything from electrical systems to leaky windows.

By many measures, Baltimore's parent-run Stadium School is doing exactly what it set out to do: challenging students to learn by solving real-life neighborhood problems.So yesterday, alarm and anger were the reactions to an audit that prompted school board members to ask whether the groundbreaking 3-year-old school should be closed, in part because test scores are too low.Founders and parents disputed the report, saying test scores are an inadequate measure of their nontraditional programs.

After years of having some of the most outdated schools in the county, western Carroll residents are going to see new walls going up.And because they know it will be a few decades before this much school building and renovation happen again, they're pushing for what they feel is their fair share.Two school projects proposed for western Carroll -- a building to replace Elmer Wolfe Elementary School and a renovation of Francis Scott Key High School -- will cost more than school officials originally had hoped.

Anne Arundel County budget officials say the rebuilding of two elementary schools in the crowded Pasadena corridor should be delayed from next year to 1998.They also recommended yesterday delaying the construction of seven schools and that no county money be spent on school construction planning next year, angering school officials and legislators from the northern part of the county.School board President Joseph H. Foster called the proposals "just unacceptable.""It shows a total lack of understanding of what is really needed," he said.

FACING BALTIMORE COUNTY voters on Nov. 5 will be eight ballot questions. If approved, they would allow the county to borrow millions of dollars for schools, roads, parks, waterway cleanup and farmland preservation.The projects slated to be paid for with these loans meet fundamental public needs. They are not frivolities. There are also four modest amendments to the county charter, Questions A through D, including one allowing an independent auditor to perform the annual government audit.Questions E and F are the most significant bond issues.

A school board request for $4.7 million more county funding for new computers and building renovations appears unlikely to win approval from a Howard County Council beset by recession-driven cuts and employee furloughs. "I don't know where we'd find it," said council chairwoman Mary Kay Sigaty, a West Columbia Democrat, after a two-hour work session on the budget Friday in the county's temporary office quarters in Columbia. "Personally, I think they need to look at their own projects," commented Courtney Watson, an Ellicott City Democrat.

About $12 million that had been budgeted for the expansion of Loch Raven High School will instead go toward other projects after the school board unanimously voted to rescind its approval of the proposed addition, Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. said yesterday. He said he is "confused and disappointed" by the board's decision to reject what he called a "perfect" solution to overcrowding and that he is worried that the county might lose nearly $4 million in state funding that had been budgeted for the Loch Raven addition.

Baltimore : Southeast Last Little Tavern in area is closed The last Little Tavern restaurant -- part of a chain that served bags of small burgers for more than 70 years -- permanently closed yesterday afternoon, the owner said. The restaurants, known for their green-and-white, cottage-style buildings and the slogan, "Buy 'em by the bag," were one of the area's first fast-food chains, opening in Baltimore in 1930. Little Tavern was founded in Louisville, Ky., in 1926 by entrepreneur Harry Duncan, and the chain soon moved to this area.

A Polytechnic Institute biology teacher wants $1,169 for an LCD projector. An eighth-grade special-education teacher at Winston Middle School seeks $1,000 worth of graphing calculators. And a teacher at Booker T. Washington Middle School needs another $261 to have enough money to buy 60 copies of Time for Kids: World Report Edition. "The eighth-grade students of Booker T. Washington Middle School in West Baltimore live in poverty with distractions all around," the teacher wrote in a request for help.

Howard County Board of Education members passed a record $118 million capital budget this week knowing that it will not likely receive full state and local funding. In the coming months, board members will closely monitor the decisions made on the state and county levels that will determine how much of the budget is funded. County Executive Ken Ulman is expected to decide in April how much he will include for school projects in the county's capital budget, which the County Council will then vote on. The board will find out about state funding in early May. Last school year, the system received 80 percent of the money it requested for the capital budget, said Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin.

Some parent groups and lawmakers yesterday criticized a proposal to make funding for school projects related to growth around Maryland's military bases a priority, saying pressing needs for the state's existing schools would be pushed aside. "There are thousands of Maryland children now occupying schools that desperately need renovation, where heat is not predictably regulated, without adequate lighting, science labs and other facility basics," said Bebe Verdery, education reform project director with the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

At a time when the proceeds from a two-year old excise tax on new homes are running out, two candidates for Howard County executive said last week that a new funding source is needed to help pay for school construction and renovations. Republican Christopher J. Merdon said he favors a new impact fee on development. Independent C. Stephen Wallis said he would work with the General Assembly delegation to work out sustainable funding for schools and other infrastructure, if elected in November.

Action delayed on tax credit bill Two Baltimore County Council members postponed action last night on a proposal that would give tax credits to elderly people on fixed incomes. The proposal, by Councilman T. Bryan McIntire and council Chairman John Olszewski Sr., would give credits worth up to $160 to residents ages 65 and older who qualify for the state homeowners property tax credit program. The sponsors withdrew their bill last night, then reintroduced it, to ensure that it will be considered at the same time that the council considers a tax credit program proposed by County Executive James T. Smith Jr. The council will be able to choose between the programs or combine them.

In proposing a record $336.6 million capital budget for the coming year -- a 39 percent increase over last year -- Howard County Executive James N. Robey said school projects remain his primary interest, even though he trimmed requests for school renovations. "My highest priority continues to be to build the schools Howard County needs to maintain our education system as the best in the state," he said Friday, suggesting that an extra $5 million expected in state school construction money could be used to help fill the gap. The overall budget grew mainly because of water, sewer and road projects financed from self-supporting utility and excise taxes.

Essay contest deadline is Friday The Howard County Commission for Women is sponsoring an essay contest for Howard County students in grades six through 12 to promote the theme, "Women: Builders of Communities and Dreams." The subject of the essay should be a contemporary of historical American woman, her ability to bring communities together and encourage dreams and achievement in spite of challenges. The deadline for submissions is Friday. Winners will be invited to read their essays at the Women's Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 7:30 p.m. March 16 in the Banneker Room of the George Howard Building, 3430 Court House Drive, Ellicott City.