The Montgomery County Council on Monday threw its support behind school construction projects to ease crowding in local high schools.
In an informal vote, council members voted to not delay the construction of a new high school in Gaithersburg, the rebuilding of Northwood High School in Silver Spring and reopening Woodward High School in Rockville.
The Montgomery County school board had added the three projects, among others, to a list of projects that could be delayed or cut from its six-year capital improveemnts pto save money while the county grapples with the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
County government officials in April asked the school district to identify possible reductions from the proposed $1.8 billion budget. MCPS complied and identified 11 building projects that could be modified or removed from the budget.
The County Council on Monday, however, said it wants to keep the three high school building projects intact, to be completed by September 2025, largely because delaying them would trigger widespread residential building moratoriums. Moratoriums are enacted when schools or school clusters become too crowded and there are no ongoing or planned building projects to create more space.
Council Member Craig Rice cautioned, however, that the coronavirus pandemic has created a tough fiscal environment and, lacking significant funding from the state, it “will be a stretch” to fund the projects. More information about state funding projections is expected this week.
MCPS plans to build the new, approximately $130 million Crown High School in Gaithersburg to ease crowding at nearby high schools.
Northwood High School is slated to be rebuilt, beginning in 2023. During construction, students will move to the former Woodward High School. Then, when construction is completed in 2025, Woodward would undergo additional renovations and reopen as a new MCPS high school.
The Northwood and Woodward projects are expected to cost about $120 million each over six years.
Council members also directed the staff to explore ways to fit construction of a new elementary school in Clarksburg, additions at Col. Zadok Magruder High and Bethesda Elementary schools, and construction of an early childhood education center at Watkins Mill High School into the capital improvements program as originally proposed.
After prompting to find ways to reduce the capital budget proposal, the school board conceded to delaying the Magruder, Bethesda Elementary and Clarksburg elementary projects and cutting the Watkins Mill early childhood project from the CIP.
Council members highlighted that most of the projects, if not done soon, could lead to moratoriums. The buildout of the early childhood education center aligns with a comprehensive countywide push to provide more access to prekindergarten services.
In other actions on Monday, County Council members agreed to:
- delay an addition at DuFief Elementary School by one year, with a new completion estimate of September 2023
- delay an addition at William Tyler Page Elementary by one year, with a new completion estimate of September 2024
- remove a project to build an addition at the joint Maryvale Elementary and Carl Sandburg Learning Center site
- remove an addition at Westbrook Elementary
- remove increased funding for HVAC replacement projects.
All actions are subject to an official vote later this month.
MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith said he and school board members understand the fiscal constraints caused by the coronavirus pandemic and therefore are not particularly upset about having to make cuts to the CIP.
“We would be having a different conversation if we weren’t in this situation,” Smith said. “… All of these projects have an incredibly significant impact on our school system and our community, but we also understand the current financial situation has an incredibly significant impact … on our lives.”
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
