The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee held a hearing on the Public School Construction Capital Budget.  The Public School Construction Capital Budget Summary of the Analysis of the FY 2015 Maryland Executive Budget includes recommended actions and several charts detailing the last few years of allocations to county school boards for aging schools, qualified zone academy bonds, and last year’s air conditioning and security initiatives.

The report also includes the total state allocation for public school construction from fiscal 1972 through 2015 and a summary of capital program requests from fiscal 2015-2020.  That chart shows over $3 billion in funding requests for county school boards and the Maryland School for the Blind over the five year period.

One recommendation notes a $500,000 or 14% reduction in funding for the Nonpublic Aging Schools Program which was begun last year.  This reduction merely reflects that after the FY 2014 application process closed, about $500,000 of funding for the program remained unencumbered, so those funds will now be rolled over into fiscal year 2015 , allowing for a reduction in new funding for the program.  According to Dr. Lever, Executive Director of Public School Construction, there are approximately 350 schools eligible for this program.