PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS >  BROWSE

Superintendent Proposes CIP Amendments

October 28, 2004
Four amendments to the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Capital Improvements Program (CIP) budget, ranging from facility planning to technology modernization, and four supplements, including location for a countywide Chinese immersion program and recommendations for the Mark Twain facility, are part of Superintendent Jerry D. Weast's recent recommendations to the Board of Education.

The superintendent submitted the Recommended FY 2006 Capital Budget and Amended FY 2005-2010 Capital Improvements Program to the Board on October 27. FY 2006 is the second year of the biennial review process, so only projects with expenditure or appropriation changes needed in the second year of the adopted six-year CIP are considered for amendments. In May 2004, the County Council adopted the FY 2005-2010 CIP and approved $165.5 million in expenditures for FY 2005 and $912.8 million in expenditures for the six-year period.

Recommended Amendments

The recommended amendments increase the approved CIP by $10.61 million. The additional funding will be used for the following projects:

· Facility planning, to complete the feasibility study for a new elementary school in the Kennedy cluster to relieve overcrowding at four elementary schools within the Downcounty Consortium ($40,000).

· Technology modernization, to continue the rollout plan for the technology modernization program ($2.3 million).

· Advanced Land Acquisition Revolving Fund (ALARF), to purchase land for elementary school sites in the Shady Grove sector plan and the Kennedy Cluster ($7.5 million).

· Broad Acres Elementary School reconfiguration, to provide three additional classrooms to address increased enrollment ($770,000).

The superintendent's recommendations also include non-capital budget items, including the addition of a seventh Center for the Highly Gifted program at Chevy Chase Elementary School and proposed boundary studies for the new Clarksburg/Damascus Elementary School #7, Northwest Elementary School #7, Northeast Consortium Elementary School #16, and Clarksburg Area High School.

Recommended Supplements

Dr. Weast recommended the following four supplements:

· Revision of MCPS elementary school program capacity calculations to reflect both the class-size reduction initiatives in 56 focus schools and the general reduction to 23 students per classroom in all other elementary schools.

· Opening of a second Chinese immersion program at College Gardens Elementary School beginning in 2005-06, with countywide admission determined by lottery. Chinese immersion slots at Potomac Elementary School will be open first to students residing in the Potomac Elementary School service area, with remaining slots available through a lottery-based transfer.

· Collocation of the Fleet Street Alternative Program, which must leave its current facility in June, with all programs and offices currently located at the Mark Twain facility, as a short-term solution to use of the space. For the long term, Dr. Weast recommended exploring development of a nontraditional high school program that could collocate in the Mark Twain facility. He also recommended that MCPS explore moving middle school Mark Twain students, who have emotional disabilities, to two middle schools with cluster components, where the students could be offered enhanced services in a least restrictive environment.

· Declaration of a 1.75-acre unimproved parcel adjoining Tilden Middle School (Edson Lane property) as surplus and, with the approval of the state superintendent, conveying it to the Montgomery County government. The superintendent noted that the County Council has agreed to fund the replacement of Seven Locks Elementary School on the Kendale Road site.

Although amendments are limited this year, the overall CIP continues to provide, over the next five years, for construction of 22 addition projects to elementary, middle, and high schools; building or reopening of two high, two middle, and six elementary schools; construction of 33 elementary school gyms; and other core improvements and projects. The adopted CIP will, by fall 2009, significantly reduce the number of relocatable classrooms needed to accommodate a growing student population.

Enrollment continues to grow as projected. Preliminary September 30 enrollment is 140,030 students, an increase of 827 from last year. By 2010, enrollment is projected to top 145,000 students. It is necessary to begin searching for a high school site in the central part of the county to relieve overcrowding, Weast said in his recommendation to the Board of Education.

For FY 2006, the state aid request is $125.5 million. “It is crucial that the entire state aid request submitted by the Board of Education be approved by the state in order to meet the substantial capital funding needed for MCPS,” Weast said.

The Superintendent's Recommended FY 2006 Capital Budget and Amended FY 2005-2010 Capital Improvements Program is available on the MCPS web site at the link below.

<<Back to browse