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University of Maryland College Park
Office of Executive
Programs
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Newswire Week 11 (12/09-12/15)
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LOCAL
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Schools fear less aid for building
The Associated Press
State & Local Wire _
December 10, 2002, Tuesday
http://wire.ap.org/public_pages/WirePortal.pcgi/us_portal.html
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Local
governments struggling to provide enough classrooms are worried about how
much state school construction
financial aid they'll have after July 1 - fears fed by the cancellation of
annual state funding hearings that had been scheduled for Thursday.
All but three of Maryland's 24 jurisdictions are asking for more money than
the amount recommended last month by the state Interagency Committee on School Construction.
Those seeking more funds were told not to show up Thursday because no one
knows how much money will be available. "We're taking a conservative
approach at this point in time," said Yale Stenzler, the committee's
executive director.
In August, Gov. Parris Glendening, a Democrat, suggested that $150 million
might be available for school
construction next year, but budget estimates predict $78.5
million.
With Maryland facing a projected $1.7 billion budget shortfall, and
Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich awaiting inauguration, no one is sure the education
construction budget won't be smaller when finished in the spring. Ehrlich
aides were unavailable for comment Monday.
In a memo sent to local governments on Friday, Stenzler said the committee
has recommended $55.8 million in school
construction aid statewide, and up to $4 million more may be
added based on written appeals. That roughly $60 million compares with $110.4
million in requests approved statewide in December last year.
By contrast, in fiscal year 2001, state school construction funding reached a peak of $356
million. Local governments made initial requests for about $305.9 million for
the next budget year, state officials said.
"We've gained 11,000 students in three years. It's a precarious
position," said Brian Porter, a spokesman for Montgomery County schools
- the largest system in Maryland.
The county suspended building for a year to combat escalating construction
costs, but now, Porter said, "we're hit with the double whammy of rising
costs and now lower state aid."
The figure recommended each December typically represents about 75 percent of
the total amount available.
Maryland's governor, as part of the three-member Board of Public Works, makes
final funding decisions after the General Assembly adjourns in April. Last spring,
$156.5 million was approved.
Stenzler said the next step in the process will take place Jan. 22 at the
annual Board of Public Works meeting in Annapolis.
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Schools Dread Drop In State Funding; Md. Cancels Meeting
On Construction Needs
The Washington Post _
December 12, 2002, Thursday
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37921-2002Dec10.html
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Charles
County elected officials confronted some gloomy school construction scenarios
Tuesday morning as a joint review of school capacity by the county
commissioners and the Board of Education turned into an anxious discussion of
what-ifs in light of the state budget shortfall.
What if the state doesn't send more funding for the county's new high school?
What if the state doesn't approve the planning stage for the proposed
elementary school? What if the county has to halt development because its
schools are at or above enrollment capacity?
"I promised I had bad news," said Charles L. Wineland, assistant
school superintendent for supporting services, to the room full of elected
leaders.
In his hand was a letter from Yale Stenzler, executive director of Maryland's
public school construction
program. The Dec. 6 memo informed school superintendents that a meeting
scheduled for today to hear appeals for school construction funding in 21 school systems had
been canceled. The total dollar value of the projects seeking more money or
approval for planning is so much greater than the available state funding,
Stenzler informed school officials, that holding the hearing seemed
inappropriate.
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NATIONAL
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Case Studies Sought for
New School Publications
National
Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities _ December 11, 2002, Wednesday
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With
funding from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, CEFPI
(the Council of Educational Facility Planners International) is seeking
submissions of case studies to illustrate two new publications: "The
Primer for Renovating Older/Historic School Facilities," and, "The
Appraisal Guide for Older/Historic School Facilities. For more information,
see the online
application on CEFPI's website.
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ACROSS THE NATION
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Massachusetts
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School district plan is opposed; Rutland man claims
inequity
Worcester Telegram &
Gazette _ December 10, 2002 Tuesday
http://www.telegram.com/news/city/wachbill.html
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While
two state representatives at Wachusett Regional School District yesterday
discussed proposed legislation that would allow regional school districts to
change cost-allocation formulas, a Rutland selectman stepped in and expressed
strong opposition to the plan.
State Rep. Robert P. Spellane, D-Worcester, and state Rep.-elect Lewis G.
Evangelidis, R-Holden, called a press conference to discuss legislation they
have filed that would make it easier for school districts throughout the
state to abandon the state's wealth-based cost-assessment formula in favor of
one approved by towns in the district.
However, an otherwise routine announcement became a debate when Rutland
Selectman Louis J. Cornacchioli arrived and said he opposed the proposed bill
and threatened to fight the changes in court.
Claiming that inequities in assessments exists in the Wachusett district and
in other school districts across the state, the lawmakers said the
legislation was needed because the state Department of Education has ignored
the issue. Mr. Evangelidis called the proposed legislation ''a fair and
equitable'' way to solve an issue that is preventing the Wachusett district
from moving forward in other areas, such as school construction projects.
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New York
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NY City Council to Vote
on School Construction Reporting Measure
National Clearinghouse
for Educational Facilities _ December 10, 2002, Tuesday
http://www.edfacilities.org/ne/news.html
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The
Education Committee of the New York City Council unanimously passed
legislation requiring quarterly reports on the status of all school
construction to be submitted to the full City Council. The measure comes
after education officials disclosed a shortfall of nearly $3 billion in the
$7 billion, five-year school construction budget. Education Chancellor Joel
Klein is opposed to the measure, saying that improved reporting within the
department would be sufficient to insure proper oversight. The bill goes to
the full City Council for a vote on December 18.
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California
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Beaumont school projects pulled
The Press-Enterprise
(Riverside, CA) - December 12,
2002, Thursday
http://www.pe.com/localnews/
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Beaumont
Unified School District stands to lose as much as $ 13 million in previously
approved state funding because of a flap over its five-year enrollment and
housing projections, Deputy Superintendent Bob Guillen said.
The Allocation Board will not consider Beaumont's request for nearly $ 13
million in construction planning money at its Dec. 18 meeting. State
officials say the district did not comply with a deadline this month for
turning over documentation to support applications it submitted last year to
obtain state hardship construction money. Guillen said he hopes to see
Beaumont's projects on the board's. January agenda after questions about the
district's enrollment projections and funding eligibility have been resolved.
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Tennessee
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Leaders ponder school-funding reform; Wharton plan
stresses needs, accountability
The Commercial Appeal
(Memphis, TN) _ December 13, 2002 Friday
http://newgomemphis.com/newgo/core/archives.htm
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A
new capital funding reform plan for schools - with an emphasis on needs and
accountability - is being studied by local education and government leaders.
The proposal would develop a city-county school attendance zone agreement by
August, build the county's proposed high school in Arlington and guarantee
city schools additional capital dollars in 2007 and beyond.
The leaders of the two local school boards received drafts of the detailed
plan at 6 p.m. Thursday after Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton and his staff
ironed out kinks with school officials and attorneys.
The capital needs proposal is the latest effort to ease Shelby County's debt
and school construction
crisis, this time led by Wharton, who took office Sept. 1. Memphis Mayor
Willie Herenton sponsored a similar though more complex plan earlier this
year that foundered. The new plan would add accountability measures for
capital spending by allotting dollars only for projects that are needed.
This would be accomplished through the formation of the Needs Assessment
Committee (NAC), made up of one member of each school board, one school
administrator from each system and experts in the field of construction.
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Ohio
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Ohio School Notes Sell Well in Wake of Critical Court
Decision
The
Bond Buyer _ December 13, 2002, Friday
http://www.bondbuyer.com/
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About $400 million in bond
anticipation notes that were sold by several Ohio school districts for school construction this week were
well received by the market even as the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed its
ruling that the state's school funding formula is unconstitutional.
The court ruled Wednesday that the state failed to fix the "core"
funding mechanism for distributing state school aid. The court approved of
the way the state increased its funding for facilities but said the funding
for operations was inadequate.
The ruling could lead to the state having to come up with an extra $3 billion
a year in extra funding for school
construction. The
impact would begin to be felt in the fiscal 2003-2004 budget. Gov. Bob Taft
introduces his budget for that biennium in February. In response to the
court's final ruling, the governor pointed to the fact that through the
Classroom Facilities Assistance Bonding Program the state has increased
spending for school facilities. He added that the operating expenditures
increased by 81% since the 11-year-old DeRolph school funding case was
brought against the state. In the DeRolph vs. State of Ohio lawsuit, a group
representing 500 school districts charged that poorer districts in the state
were funded inadequately because the state's formula for school funding
relied too heavily on property taxes.
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