St. Mary's School Crowding Revisited

Letter Asks About County Funding

A recent letter from a St. Mary's County public schools administrator to county government officials has renewed the debate over how to address overcrowded high schools and the costs of building one.

The letter from Bradley Clements, the system's chief operating officer, asks the Board of County Commissioners for "some direction regarding the support for constructing a new high school that would be funded with total local funding."

Several commissioners said last week that the Nov. 20 letter was in bad form because it implicitly asked the commissioners to pay for the construction of a high school. Normally, state funds pay the bulk of school construction costs, as long as enrollment guidelines are met.

"It was an inappropriate suggestion to the county that this should be solved by us paying 50, 60, 70 million dollars," said Commissioner Thomas A. Mattingly Sr. (D-Leonardtown). "It is unfair to lay the burden on our back."

But Clements said his intent in writing the letter was not to request full funding for the school, but rather to open a dialogue about how the county and school system should proceed.

"The letter has really been misread," Clements said. "We did not ask them for a new school, we asked them for a discussion."

Maryland State Department of Education funding for the construction of a school is triggered only when the overflow from existing schools would make up half the enrollment of a new facility. Under that formula, St. Mary's high schools would have to be overcrowded by 600 students before state funding would be available for a proposed 1,200-student high school. The three existing county high schools are about 200 students over capacity. Projections show that number reaching 600 between 2012 and 2014.

Overcrowded schools already have had effects beyond the inconvenience of using portable classrooms, Clements said. The adequate public facilities ordinance that governs development in the quickly growing county stipulates that additional homes must not be constructed until sufficient school space is available. That has limited where developers can build.

"It's pretty simple: We're going to need to build a new school or change the ordinance," Clements said. "If for adequate public facilities reasons they want to [open a new school] sooner than the state's time frame, it's going to have to be funded locally."

County Commissioners President Jack Russell (D-At Large) agreed that the adequate public facilities ordinance restrictions are hindering development because of the shortage of seats in classrooms. All five county commissioners spoke extensively about the need to revise the policy during their election campaigns.

"Clearly adjusting APF is part of the solution here, and it's a solution that the schools people have been part of working toward," Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D-Great Mills) said. "Perhaps they should have initiated the discussion about these issues by picking up the phone and placing a local call rather than sending this letter."

Mattingly said that adjusting the adequate public facilities ordinance and adding portable classrooms to high schools would be a sustainable solution, if less than ideal, until the county's high school population reaches the state threshold for a new school. Russell added that he hopes to work with the county's state legislative delegation in hopes of changing the funding formula.

"We might be able to work with our representatives to find a way to start the school earlier," Russell said. "Unfortunately at this time, I don't think it's a realistic project that the county could take on."