By: John Curran
State legislators from Frederick County have proposed a bill that would require the state to pay for the difference in school construction costs from time of initial bid to project completion.
Frederick County state delegates and State Sen. Michael Hough sponsored identical bills in both chambers of the state legislature that would alleviate the financial burden on counties resulting from unforeseen increases in school construction costs due to legislative changes.
Construction costs can increase as a result of a delay between the time of a bid and the time of the actual contract. In addition, new requirements placed on school districts by state legislation can cause the cost of construction to rise.
“Counties should not be held responsible for providing additional funding resulting from state legislation,” said Hough, who serves Frederick and Carroll counties.
This piece of legislation was spurred by the construction of Frederick High School. The cost of construction increased from $97 million in fiscal year 2016 to $114 million in fiscal year 2017.
Karen Young, a state delegate from Frederick said, “Education is one of my highest priorities and therefore it is important that school construction proceed as smoothly as possible.”
The passing of this bill would also help Frederick County Public Schools move forward with the construction of Sugarloaf and Butterfly Ridge Elementary Schools, said Anthony Belnomi, legislative aide to Young. These new elementary schools are being built to reduce overcrowding of schools.
“One district in Frederick County has a school that is at 138 percent of state-rated capacity and another district has two schools at over 140 percent state-rated capacity,” said Belnomi.
Without increased state funding, Frederick County does not have the money necessary to complete the building of the needed elementary schools.
The proposed legislation does not have an expiration date, which allows county schools across the state to benefit on future school construction projects.
Frederick County is one of the few Maryland counties experiencing population growth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Frederick County’s population increased at a rate faster than 75 percent of the counties in the state. A consequence of this growth is overcrowding in schools, which is a disadvantage for both students and teachers.
Consequences of overcrowding include lower student achievement in both mathematics and reading. In addition, teachers are limited in the instructional techniques they can utilize. For example, group work and cooperative learning are nearly impossible in crowded classrooms.
Teachers also feel the impact of overcrowding. Studies demonstrate that they experience higher rates of burn out and absenteeism than teachers in less crowded environments.
Hough, a Republican, was the only state senator to sponsor Senate Bill 1055. Young, a Democrat, joined the other state delegates from Frederick County to sponsor House Bill 1098.
These bills are partly a result of increased wage requirements for companies working on state funded projects. Construction companies working on state funded projects need to pay their employees a median rate of pay for someone in their occupation.
A bill was passed last year that increased the wages companies had to pay their employees if they were working on a project that received at least 25 percent state funding. The previous legislation only required this prevailing wage to be paid to employees working on contracts that were 50 percent state funded.
A hearing was scheduled to occur in the state senate on March 17. However, the hearing was cancelled due to the large number of bills currently before the senate. The hearing has not been rescheduled.
If the bill is passed, it will take effect on July 1, 2016.