At an afternoon committee meeting Monday, some members of the Prince George’s County Council expressed worry the county’s public school system will have to make cuts to programs for kids because of a change to the way it pays for new schools.
Prince George’s County has begun building new schools through a public-private partnership in which developers build and maintain the schools, and the county pays the developers back over 30 years.
Six new schools opened this school year under the program, and now Prince George’s County is starting a second phase in which eight more new schools are expected to be built.
Supporters of the public-private program said it’s a way to get new schools built much faster and much cheaper, and in addition, will help keep schools from falling into disrepair.
But although the six schools in the first phase are being paid for with money from the Prince George’s County Public School System’s capital budget, PGCPS’ Chief Financial Officer Lisa Howell told the county council’s Education and Workforce Development Committee Monday that the school system has been told it will have to pay for the second phase out of what’s called its operating budget.
“It’s not [a] normal process to pay for capital construction out of an operating budget,” Prince George’s County School Board Member and Budget Committee Chair Shayla Adams-Stafford told 7News after the meeting. “Our operating budget is reserved for teachers, for classrooms, for programs.”
After being questioned by the county council’s Education and Workforce Development Committee chair Edward Burroughs III at Monday’s meeting, Howell acknowledged the $24-27 million that will unexpectedly have to come out of next school year’s operating budget could affect programs for kids. She said the school system has already decided to scale back summer school, including eliminating it for elementary school students.
Click here to read the rest of the story written by Tom Roussey over at WJLA News Channel 7
