The Board of Education tonight unanimously approved an official Fiscal Year 2020 Capital Budget request of $172 million after passing a single amendment to include more funding for school playground equipment.
The amendment added $130,000 to the Board’s October approval of the budget, which includes funding for nine major school projects, including the first round of funding for a new Old Mill West High School.
The budget request also contains funding for classroom additions, and additions for kindergarten and prekindergarten. It also allocates nearly $101.6 million to the following existing major projects, in priority order:
- George Cromwell Elementary School renovation (construction), $4.7 million
- Edgewater Elementary School renovation (construction), $24.0 million
- Tyler Heights Elementary School renovation (construction), $19.3 million
- Richard Henry Lee Elementary School renovation (construction), $16.3 million
- Crofton Area High School construction, $24.4 million
- Quarterfield Elementary School (feasibility study), $947,000
- Hillsmere Elementary School (feasibility study), $784,000
- Rippling Woods Elementary School (feasibility study), $1.2 million
- Old Mill West High School (design), $10.0 million
In addition, the request includes $11 million for prekindergarten and kindergarten additions at Millersville and Linthicum elementary schools and $6 million for classroom additions at Solley and Crofton Woods elementary schools. The amendment passed by the Board boosted the playground equipment funding category to $430,000.
The Board also formally approved its six-year Capital Improvement Plan, which allocates requested funding for projects through FY2025. That plan contains funding for two more high school projects – feasibility study and design funding to renovate Old Mill High School ($7.4 million in FY2023) and design funding for a new West County High School ($11.7 million in FY2024).
The Board’s request will now be submitted to County Executive Steuart Pittman, who will make a recommendation to the County Council on May 1. The County Council will review that plan and adopt a final capital budget for the school system by June 15, 2019.