MCCPTA Testimony to the County Council on the

Montgomery County Public Schools FY 2007 Capital Budget

and FY 2007-2012 CIP

February 8, 2006

Good evening, President Leventhal and Members of the County Council. I am Cindy Kerr, President of MCCPTA, here to speak on behalf of the 139,000 MCPS school children and their parents—many of whom are here tonight. We want to urge you to do the right thing for all children, KEEP THE CIP ON TRACK.

We need you to fully fund the Board of Education’s Adopted FY 2007-2012 CIP and FY 2007 Capital Budget. To us, fully funding means not only the total number of dollars for the six-year program, but the capital budget each year, so that the schedule of construction and completion of projects occurs as it is set forth in the CIP. Anything less means delays for projects that impact our schools and our children.

We thank you for your past support of our schools and our children’s education—in fact you have previously approved most of this CIP as the FY 2005-2010 CIP and FY 06 Capital Budget and Amendments. We thank you for the recently completed projects, including the long-awaited modernization of Kensington Parkwood Elementary School and the opening of Lakelands Middle School. We wish all of our buildings were shiny and new, but we pledge to continue working with you so that each child can attend school in a safe, secure, and modern facility.

Unfortunately, with 194 schools and a more-than-30-year modernization schedule, all of our schools are not up to that standard. Almost 25% have not been modernized since 1970; these are old, decrepit buildings in desperate need of expansion and modernization. Most are facing at least a decade before there is any relief; some much longer since they are not even on the modernization schedule yet. We have too many students housed outside schools in what is only a temporary solution for overcrowding-- portables. We have schools with mold, poor air quality, and many in need of lead remediation. This slow process of replacing and repairing buildings leads to increased maintenance needs for which we need more dollars in both the capital and operating budgets.

The long list of needs is why we must continue to take an aggressive approach to scheduling and funding solutions to alleviate health and safety concerns, relieve overcrowding with new and reopened schools and additions, and update our old facilities for today’s technology and programs needs. You will hear from our cluster coordinators about the many specific needs of their schools for capital projects. This is not about politics, nor about our need for shiny buildings, but for our children. We know you want to do the right thing for our children and their communities.

Schools, many represented here tonight by their principals, staff, students, and parents, take the scheduled construction dates seriously in planning for necessary rearrangements of building space use, transportation, and the million little details that are part of a facility project. These details include: planning bus routes to a holding school for students who normally walk; closing off and planning alternate locations for a core space like an auditorium while renovation or repair work is done; or the hours of planning by both staff and parents for a new school that includes the wide range of involvement with as part of an architectural design committee, in creating a school culture by choosing furniture, an entire staff, or school colors, and going through a boundary study.

Additionally, the CIP is carefully constructed to maximize capacity for use of our holding schools and MCPS project management while getting needed relief to schools as quickly as possible. Delaying a project by even one year impacts the schedule for that school project and for all those that come after it. We’ve had a lot of experience with delays, and know that you have seen the impact within your own school communities as well. The attached chart shows some of this history.

We have studied the County Executive’s Recommended Six-Year Budget and the impact of moving funds from FY 07 and FY 08 to the later years-- what we call delays. We understand how a challenging fiscal picture in the county can impact the funding of these schedules and we have been patient when delays were unavoidable. We know that construction costs have risen and that there is a need for a twenty per cent increase in many projects and what that adds to the overall budget. We’re County residents and want our county services also. We understand the role that State aid plays, and are actively lobbying with you to increase the State school construction budget, but we depend on you to do the right thing for our children so that projects aren’t delayed by supporting full funding for the CIP.

We thank you for increasing the SAG yesterday to add revenue through bond authority for school construction. We urge you to explore using some of the FY06 current revenue as PAYGO. Our Delegates Assembly voted unanimously to support keeping the CIP on track, we hope you will do the same. Thank you for this opportunity to testify.

Selected Facilities Projects- CIP Proposed Completion Dates Over Several Years- Impact of Delays Recommended completion dates per CIP; delays per MCPS’ preliminary plan
	Year Built/mod	FY2001	FY2002	FY2004	FY2006	FY2007	CE Budget-proposed revisions
High schools
Richard Montgomery HS repl	1942	2005	2005	2007	2007	construction	construction
Walter Johnson HS mod	1956/ 1977	2007	2007	2010	2009	2009	2011
Paint Branch HS mod	1969	2009	2009	2012	2010	2010	2013
BCC HS 6 rm addition	1934/ 2002			TBD	2009	2009	2010
Northwest HS 12 rm add	1998	2004	2004	20 rm 2005	2006	construction
Middle schools
Parkland MS	1963	2004	2004	2007	2007	2007	construction
Key MS	1967	2006	2006	2009	2009	2009	2011
Hoover MS	1966	2009	2009	2013	2013	2013	2015
Lakelands Park MS				2005	2005
Silver Spring Intl MS/Sligo Creek ES modifications	1934/ 1999				2007	2007	2008
Redland MS facility impr	1971	2005	2005	TBD	2010	2010	2010 (school not on modernization schedule)
Ridgeview MS fac impr	1975	2005	2005	TBD	2010	2010	2010 ( school not on modernization schedule)
Elementary schools
Somerset ES	1949/2005	2003	2003	Const 2005	completed
Kensington Parkwood ES	1952	2003	2003	2006	2006	occupy 1/06	completed
Clarksburg ES #7 and gym				2006	2006	2006
Clarksburg ES #* and gym					2009	2009	2010
College Gardens ES	1967	2004	2004	2006	2008	2008	2009
Cresthaven ES	1962	2005	2005	TBD	2010	2010	2012
DCC ES #27 Connecticut Park & gym			2004	2006	2006	2006
DCC ES #28 Arcola reopen & gym				2006	2007	2007	2007
Carl Sandburg Center	1962	2003	2007	TBD	2013	2013	2014
Thurgood Marshall ES gym	1993				2007	2007	2008
Garrett Park ES mod	1948/ 1973	2006	2006	TBD	2012	2012	2013
Piney Branch ES	1971						Not on mod schedule

MCCPTA CIP Report January 24, 2006

In May 2005, the County Council approved an Amended FY2005-2010 CIP for a six-year total of $933.5 million. This November, the BOE approved the FY2007-2012 CIP for a total of $1.172 billion; including an additional $239 million for additional projects and to maintain level of commitment due to increased construction costs. It includes $267.5 million for FY2007 (which is an $82.5 million increase).

The FY 2007-2012 CIP includes:

• Opening 5 new schools next year- one high school and four elementary schools; total 7 new schools in the 6-year plan (Clarksburg Area High School, NW ES #7, Clarksburg ES #7, Clarksburg ES #8, NEC ES #16 (Brookview), DCC ES #27 (Connecticut Park), DCC ES #28 (Arcola))
• Modernizes four high schools (RM 2007; WJ 09; Paint Branch 10; Gaithersburg 12), three middle schools (Parkland 07, Key 09, Cabin John 11), nine elementary schools (College Gardens 1/08; Cashell 8/09; Galway 1/09; Cresthaven 8/10; Carderock Springs 8/10; Bells Mill 8/10; Cannon Road 1/12; Garrett Park 1/12; Farmland 8/11) (Kensington-Parkwood will be completed 1/06 as part of FY06 budget)
• Budget will “Address overdue need for additional space to reduce reliance on portable classrooms” by construction of 14 additions at elementary schools and high schools (BCC HS, Farmland ES, Fields Road ES, Gaithersburg ES, Gaithersburg HS, Garrett Park ES, Northwest HS, Pyle MS, Sherwood HS, South Lake ES, Travilah ES, Watkins Mill ES, Weller Road ES, Westland MS)
• Planning/construction for six new elementary additions (Ashburton 08, Wayside 08, Washington Grove 08, Luxmanor 08,Stedwick 08, Fallsmead 08)

· Core improvements at one high school (Einstein HS) and two middle schools (Redland MS and Ridgeview MS)

· Construction of 30 elementary school gymnasiums for all existing, new or reopened schools

· Increased funding for HVAC, PLAR, ADA, Energy Conservation, Fire Safety, roof replacement, water and IAQ

On January 15, the County Executive released his budget which recommended full funding of the six-year CIP; however, his recommendation shifts approximately $70 million in FY 2007 expenditures and $40 million in FY 2008 to other years in the CIP. The shift to the end of the CIP has the implication of potential delays for a number of projects-

• 10 elementary school gyms in FY2007 and FY2008
• all schools scheduled to be modernized except those currently in construction
• 17 addition projects scheduled to start in FY2007 and FY2008 except those currently in the bidding process or under construction (3 high, 4 middle, and 10 elementary schools)
• delay opening of Clarksburg ES #8 by one year
• cut substantial dollars from PLAR and other projects

These potential delays will affect projects as follows:

• Projects that are already under construction are not affected.
• Projects that have been bid with FY06 $ are not affected.
• Projects that have been bid with anticipated FY07 funds are generally not affected.
• Projects in the planning phases anticipating FY07 funds are generally delayed.
• Projects that are to be funded with FY08 and beyond funds are delayed at least one year (except as otherwise noted)
• Projects that are delayed past 2012 may now be listed at TBD.

Some of the systematic replacements remain on schedule. There is no change at this time to the restroom renovation schedule.