Montgomery County Seeks $221 Million in Additional Funding

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Montgomery County’s schools continue to fight for school construction funding as student enrollment increases in Maryland’s fastest-growing school district.

After failing to get additional state funding last year, the school district will make another bid for state funding to help aid the 154,230-student system. Superintendent Joshua P. Starr proposed almost $221 million in added funding for the district’s school construction plan. The new request would increase the district’s six-year capital improvements program budget from $1.55 billion to $1.75 billion.

A large part of the money will go towards getting 36 projects back on track after they were delayed last year because of budget constraints and the lack of new state funding, according to The Washington Post. If approved, the funding would help 20 school renovation and expansion projects, 14 classroom addition projects and the building of two new schools get back on track. Their completion dates would be moved up by a year, officials told The Washington Post.

Starr and other county officials reported that Montgomery has 17 percent of Maryland’s student enrollment but typically receives about 11 percent of state construction dollars. In fact, even if funding was granted, it would not resolve all the school district’s problems. Several schools have portable classroom trailers, and are not even on the list for construction money.

Major parts of the plan include a proposal to consider relocating the district’s alternative education programs from the Blair Ewing Center in Rockville to the English Manor site in Rockville. The plan also includes $32 million for a bus depot project that schools officials say is needed because the district must vacate its Shady Grove bus depot, with more than 400 buses, by January 2017. Starr’s plan proposes considering the 22.5-acre Ewing site for the new depot, reported The Washington Post.

School officials said they hoped additional state funding would be approved during the legislative session that starts in January. The plan will be discussed at school board meetings and public hearings scheduled in November.