University of Maryland College Park Office of Executive Programs
Newswire Week2(10/05-10/11)
LOCAL
D.C. Schools Get a Lesson In Economics The Washington Post - October 3, 2002 Thursday http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29941-2002Oct1.html
	Renovations of two District of Columbia schools have run about triple the amounts originally budgeted, concerning school advocates and administrators. Randle Highlands Elementary in Southeast DC cost $21.6 million in construction, though project estimates were $7.7 million two years ago. Although the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees DC school construction, claims the costs are reasonable, recent DC school construction cost $220 to $269 per square foot while schools in neighboring Prince William county cost $157 per square foot to build. Officials are concerned that this trend will hamper plans to renovate all 143 DC schools.
D.C. School Cuts to Avoid Closings and Furloughs The Washington Post - October 10, 2002 Thursday http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3529-2002Oct9.html
	The District school board voted yesterday to trim its budget by $30.2 million without closing schools, furloughing employees or cutting early childhood programs, despite earlier warnings by some board members that they might have to take such steps if forced to reduce spending. The board would transfer $8.4 million in technology expenses from its operating budget to its capital budget, leaving less money for school construction and modernization, and McKinley would open in the fall of 2004 instead of 2003.
Lessons in enduring neglect The Baltimore Sun - October 11, 2002 Friday http://www.sunspot.net/news/education/bal-te.md.featherbed11oct11,0,2525150.story?coll=bal-home-headlines
	School: At cramped Featherbed Elementary, education defies dilapidation and patchwork fixes. Featherbed Lane Elementary is one of Baltimore County's most dispiriting public school buildings, so short of space that sometimes gym classes take place in the front lobby and tutoring goes on in the halls. Things won't change anytime soon, either. In the school system's budget proposal for next fiscal year, there is money to repair the kitchen exhaust systems, renovate science laboratories and build additions at various schools. But again, there is no money for fixing up Featherbed Lane.
ACROSS THE NATION
Florida
Bush school-building plan relies on disputed tax increase The Miami Herald - September 23, 2002, Monday http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/2002/09/21/news/state/4118580.htm
	Florida politicians are divided over the way to reduce the state's large class sizes and reliance on portable classrooms due to school-overcrowding. Florida Governor Jeb Bush prefers to fund a $2.8 billion bond with sales taxes generated by a controversial new tax on cable TV subscriptions, while others support a statewide referendum to reduce public school class size by rolling back obscure industry sales tax exemptions for adult escort services or ostrich feed. In any case, state economists estimate the funding school construction will cost between $6.7 and $10.3 billion over the next 8 years, far below the current administration's $2.8 bond goal.
New Jersey
N.J. Gets down to business with school repairs Governing Magazine - October, 2002, Wednesday
	New Jersey is counting on a new public corporation to speed up sorely needed school financing and construction--and end the bureaucratic tangle that was tripping up school districts trying to make improvements or build new facilities.
Ohio
Bond issue tough sell for Dayton schools; officials push hard to win voters' OK Dayton Daily News - October 6, 2002 Sunday http://library.activedayton.com/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=3da7015f51e0Mpqaweb1P11012&doc=document.
	With a month remaining before Election Day, city school officials are fighting an uphill battle to persuade doubters that voting for a school bond issue will pay off. City school board members have touted the potential positive impact of their 10-year, $627 million school construction project - new jobs, neighborhood redevelopment, higher property values - in public meetings, at events and one on one with residents. But Dayton City Commissioner Richard Zimmer remains skeptical. Zimmer said he worries about the cost, especially for older district residents, and wonders whether the project can make good on all it's said to be worth.
Wisconsin
Lawmaker prepares proposal for reform The Post Crescent - October 6, 2002 Sunday http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_6398390.shtml
	State Sen. Michael Ellis, R-Neenah, will unveil a plan this week for restructuring state financing of public schools by using current spending levels as the barometer. He said it would require new building plans to be reviewed by a state panel that would determine essential areas to be financed by state money. Costs deemed not essential would be placed on local property tax rolls. Ellis also would replace current two-thirds state funding of school building projects with a need-based formula.
Massachusetts
Waltham moves up school reimbursement queue the Daily News Tribune - October 8, 2002 Tuesday http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_reimbursement10082002.htm
	A council resolution to stall school construction for three years was set aside last night, with the news that Waltham could start seeing reimbursements as early as within seven years. Four schools have dropped off the state's 90 percent reimbursement list moving Waltham toward the top and giving strength to City Council arguments last night for moving ahead with the eight-school reconstruction project as planned.
Alaska
Proposition would help improve urban and rural schools KTVA - October 9, 2002 Wednesday http://www.ktva.com/Stories/0,1413,163%257E6883%257E914435,00.html
	A proposition on the November general ballot asks voters to approve spending nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on education. Proposition C is a massive school maintenance and construction bond, one that could help end the bitter political debate over money for rural schools and save Anchorage taxpayers at least one hundred million dollars.
Alaska
Valley HS funding hinges on statewide voter OK The Juneau Empire - October 10, 2002, Thursday http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/101002/loc_bondissue.shtml
	A new Mendenhall Valley high school could be on the horizon for Juneau if a statewide school construction and maintenance bond measure is approved by voters in the Nov. 5 general election. The city would be reimbursed up to 70 percent of the cost of construction of the school if the measure is approved.
Pennsylvania
Preapproved school plans bring savings The Columbus Public Opinion - October 10, 2002 Thursday http://www.publicopiniononline.com/news/stories/20021010/opinion/261186.html
	School board members must make tough decisions on building plans and long-term financing mechanisms, areas in which most members have little experience or expertise. Taxpayers, especially those on fixed incomes, worry about being saddled with years of higher taxes to pay for the buildings and their operation. Unpleasant and costly surprises pop up, such as the prohibitive cost of the design of the new Scotland Elementary School. Building projects grow ever more costly as time passes.
Pennsylvania
Group wants Pennsylvania to ante up for public schools Doylestown Intelligencer- October 11, 2002 Friday http://www.phillyburbs.com/intelligencerrecord/article2.asp?F_num=1712362
	Good Schools Pennsylvania urged the Legislature to raise state funding to 50 percent. It noted poorer districts have lower test scores. Poorer suburban school districts often have less money to spend on students than wealthier school districts, and that translates into lower scores on state and national achievement tests, according to a report released by Philadelphia-based Good Schools Pennsylvania.

Articles compiled by Sujin Bae

Graduate assistant for the School Construction Funding Project

Van Munching Hall University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-1821

poissone@wam.umd.edu