Despite calls not to spend money on artificial turf fields until other maintenance needs are met and concerns over potential health risks with some turf technology, the Board of Education on Monday approved a six-year capital budget with $11 million aimed at providing a turf field at the 19 county high schools that don’t yet have one.
“I believe it’s about equity,” said board President Patricia O’Neill, who later labeled the issue “turf equity.”
O’Neill and others on the board believe spending the $11 million over the next six years will help finance the turf fields for schools without the private fundraising capabilities to purchase them or better maintain grass ones.
“While the [Walt] Whitmans and [Winston] Churchills can raise the money to maintain their fields, the [John F.] Kennedys, the Einsteins, and the Springbrooks deserve a field that is safe to play on,” O’Neill said. “I know that those who are opposed to turf are opposed. I happen to be a realist. We do not have the staff, we do not have turf experts with degrees from Penn State’s Turf Management program to maintain our fields.”
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers recommended the $11 million, including $2.5 million in fiscal year 2017 spending, to complement any private fundraising from school booster clubs or other organizations that would be put toward paying for turf field installations.
The Thomas S. Wootton High School athletics booster club, MCPS and Bethesda Soccer youth soccer league combined to pay for a $1.2 million artificial turf field that now serves as the Rockville school’s main field.
Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring and Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville also have artificial turf fields. Because of the durability of its field, Richard Montgomery hosted four state playoff soccer matches last weekend.
School officials are worried the constant use of existing grass fields by school teams, gym classes and by outside community groups is contributing to worn-down grass and unsafe playing conditions.
While defending the artificial turf field proposal, O’Neill talked at length about the sometimes extravagant steps NFL football teams take to maintain their grass fields. She said the Philadelphia Eagles, for instance, install new turf for games later in the season and have a heating system under the field.
Those are pricey steps MCPS can’t afford, she said. “Grass is wonderful when it’s maintained and when [NFL] owners spend over $125,000 a year,” O’Neill said.
The $11 million recommendation doesn’t detail what kind of artificial turf fields MCPS and partner groups will pursue. Concerns about the possibly carcinogenic chemicals in crumb rubber, which fill traditional turf fields, inspired the County Council to pass a resolution earlier this year pushing for turf fields filled with organic materials only.
The school board’s Fiscal Management Committee will take a more detailed look at types of fields and ways to fund those fields.
The board on Monday approved the vast majority of Bowers’ recommended $1.72 billion budget, but did add a total of $12 million to the recommendation, most of which will go toward finishing the Wheaton High School addition and the school system’s program for updating its heating and air conditioning units.
“It is, I think, slightly ambitious but I think it’s a very reasonable request,” Bowers said.
The capital budget will now go to County Executive Ike Leggett, who is expected to release his recommended six-year budget early next year. The County Council will then review the budget next spring.
