The first new middle school built in 11 years in Montgomery County opens this year as enrollment in the district continues to grow.

As reported by the Washington Post, a new middle school opens as school enrollment rises in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Hallie Wells Middle School comes as another sign of surging enrollment in a fast-growing suburban district that ranks as Maryland’s largest. Planners expect 159,000 students in all, with an uptick of more than 2,000 students for an eighth consecutive year.

MACo tracks school construction and its costs as part of its advocacy on behalf of county governments. In fiscal year 2016, Maryland counties provided more than $1 billion in capital funding to the state’s school systems.

The costs of school construction have been rising as a result of many variables, including new technology in classrooms and expanded extracurricular areas. As described by the Post,

Two years ago, the 22-acre Wells site was an undeveloped field. Now it is a $42 million school with more than three dozen classrooms, a technology-friendly media center, a gleaming main gym and three auxiliary gyms.

For more information, see A new school year, and a 204th school, as enrollment surges in Maryland district in the Washington Post.