New Northeast High School To Be Included In Baltimore County Budget

PERRY HALL, MD - For years, residents in Perry Hall have been asking for relief due to overcrowding at Perry Hall High School. On Tuesday, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced he has included money in the upcoming budget to plan for the new school to serve the northeastern part of the county.

“After numerous meetings with education experts and community leaders, it is clear that Baltimore County needs to alleviate overcrowding in the Towson area, as well as the central-northeast corridor," said Kamenetz. "The location of a second new school to alleviate overcrowding in the central-northeast corridor will be influenced by the pending high school enrollment reassessment currently being conducted by the school system. Nevertheless, it is clear that we need to fund two new schools to resolve overcrowding."

He cited a study showing that Perry Hall High School would have 234 students beyond its capacity by 2026 and Towson would be 456 students over capacity at that time.

The new high school "has been the 'Holy Grail’ in our area for so many years," Councilman David Marks said in a statement Tuesday. "I have personally worked on this issue for nearly two decades. Many thanks to the parents and community leaders, and to School Board members such as Julie Henn, for their advocacy and leadership.”

The Baltimore County Board of Education released its prioritized list of capital projects on Sept. 12 and included neither the Towson nor the northeast/Perry Hall high school project. However, Kamenetz said he would ensure the planning funds were available.

Usually, the local school system prioritizes its capital projects and requests state assistance at the Oct. 7 meeting of the Interagency Committee on School Construction. The proposals go before the Maryland Board of Public Works, which makes recommendations in the spring to determine who gets what funding.

On the list of 34 projects, funding for a new 700-seat elementary school in the northeastern part of the county is listed as the No. 5 priority, planning money for a second 700-seat elementary school in the northeast is No. 17 and planning money for a new 1,500-seat middle school is No. 20. The top priorities are air conditioning at Franklin and Kenwood high schools, followed by Victory Villa and Lansdowne elementary replacement schools, both of which will have 700 seats.

"Although the County School Board recently added a last-minute amendment on Tuesday to its capital budget, calling for two new high schools at specific locations, there is insufficient time for the school system to provide necessary data to state officials to be considered by the state during its fall review," according to a statement from Kamenetz.

Instead, money to plan a new high school in Towson and in the northeastern part of the county will come from the county's budget, according to Kamenetz, who said that the locations for the schools are to be determined. Planning funds will be included in the FY 2019 budget, Kamenetz said.

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File photo.