New Towson Area High School To Be Included In Baltimore County Budget

TOWSON, MD - Baltimore County will begin planning for a new high school in the Towson area to alleviate overcrowding.

On Tuesday, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced he has included money in the upcoming budget to plan for a new high school in Towson as well as one in 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.

"We need to resolve overcrowding at Towson High, although there are complications due to the school's designation as a County historic structure," he noted.

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

"...it is clear that we need to fund two new schools to resolve overcrowding," Kamenetz said.

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

Usually, the local school system prioritizes its capital projects in August and September, then requests submits requests for state funding 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.

The top priorities on the list of 34 projects in Baltimore County, according to the school board's list, are air conditioning at Franklin and Kenwood high schools; followed by Victory Villa and Lansdowne elementary replacement schools; and a new 700-seat elementary school in the northeastern part of the county.

"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 on Tuesday.

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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