Group weighs overhaul
of school construction funding
By Bryan P. Sears
ANNAPOLIS — A group tasked with revamping
how school construction money is doled out is considering a complicated formula
that officials hope will target systems with the most need.
The draft formula could upend a decades-old
system that proportionally doles out state aid to all of the state’s 24
subdivisions. But the new proposal seemed to have trouble gaining traction with
a number of members of the Work Group on the Assessment and Funding of School Facilities, which found it hard
to understand and perhaps even more complicated to explain to constituents.
“I feel like we’re in AP calculus here,”
said Sen. Douglas Peters, D-Prince George’s, and one of four legislators — all
Democrats — on the panel.
Currently, each of the state’s 24 local
governments gets a portion of the pot of state school construction money roughly
based on the size and wealth of the jurisdiction. The largest of the state’s
jurisdictions, which have projects every year, tend to get the lion’s share of
the funding, with smaller counties, which have projects less regularly, sharing the rest.
The draft formula calls for complicated
changes in that program based on several
factors, including the age of the facility, but with weighting that takes into account other
issues,
including whether the needs are health or safety related, such as a need for
air conditioning or heating.
The formula, proposed by Robert Gorrell,
executive director of the Interagency Commission on School Construction, is
based on a similar one used in New Mexico. Gorrell was founding director of
that state’s Public School Facility Authority.
The goal of the formula is to help local governments and the state
identify so-called deficient schools in terms of maintenance and construction
needs and to push money toward them. The eventual result, Gorrell said, is
raising the quality of all schools across the state.
“It worked in New Mexico,” Gorrell
said.
“It recognized the highest needs in the
state so that the scarce dollars
-- it’s a poor state -- were able to be focused to
those schools with the highest needs,” said Gorrell. “So this weighting worked. In a logical sense, to
the (New Mexico) legislators, it worked.”
Gorrell called the formula an attempt to
create an objective look at statewide school needs in Maryland.
A number of other panel members found
themselves similarly questioning the formula and how they would go about
explaining it to the average person.
Said Perry Willis, executive director
of support services for the Cecil County Public Schools.
Maryland State Schools Superintendent Karen
Salmon, who chairs the panel, asked members to be prepared to come back at the
end of September to finalize a formula they could recommend.
“I don’t think I’ll be prepared to make a
vote for that on Sept. 25,” said Del. Geraldine Valentino-Smith, D-Prince
George’s.
Maryland lawmakers are expected to return
in early 2020 and tackle a number of tough and expensive education proposals
supporters say will catapult the state into the forefront of education reform.
The General Assembly is expected to continue work on the Kirwan
Commission recommendations. The $4 billion annual plan calls for expanding
pre-kindergarten education and for
dramatically increasing salaries to attract and retain
highly qualified teachers.
The end result, supporters say, will be
students who graduate better prepared for college or to enter the workforce.
At the same time, there is a push to
improve the conditions of state schools.
Since the early 1970, the state has
provided aid to local governments to build and maintain public schools. That
aid amounts to the largest portion of the state’s general obligation bond
spending.
In all, it’s estimated that the state and
counties combine annually to spend $1.9 billion on school construction and
renovation requests. But annual
needs across Maryland, estimated to be about $2.1
billion, outstrip the state and local government’s ability to fund.
Next year House Speaker Adrienne Jones is
expected to propose a bill that would pump $2 billion into clearing that
backlog.
Similarly, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has
his own plan to pump billions into school construction and renovation to virtually eliminate
every request across the state.
On Wednesday, some lawmakers and other officials on the panel questioned the
formula recommended by Gorrell.
His proposal has the potential to upend the current system in which
most counties — especially wealthier ones who can afford to match the state aid
— could suddenly see more dollars flowing to other jurisdictions.
“So if Talbot County has 10 projects that
score really high that’s great for Talbot County, except Baltimore City has 10 projects that
score higher. In theory, the money would be routed to Baltimore City, actually
I shouldn’t use Baltimore City, but another school district,” said Del. Marc
Korman, D-Montgomery. “I think we should keep in mind how we currently do in
this state, which is to do it by county. That approach probably makes a little
more sense for us to continue in some way, to say it’s not the top 10 projects statewide
but making sure each county gets its piece because that’s how our (current)
structure is: by county.”
Treasurer Nancy Kopp, who led a commission
named for her that identified school construction needs and set the tone for
how the state funded it since 2004, said she told Gorrell she has difficulty seeing
how the formula advanced education in New Mexico.
“‘And it worked,’” said Kopp, quoting
Gorrell back to himself. “What does that mean? I don’t get your measurement.”
“You don’t know if it worked for
education,” she said.
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