Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat, is the Prince George’s County executive.
Our children deserve the opportunity to be educated in school buildings that are conducive to learning and reflect the importance we place on their education. The people of Prince George’s don’t want political grandstanding, excuses or bureaucracy; they want us to deliver on the promises we have made to build exceptional schools and classrooms befitting of our children, and we will deliver.
The county has an $8.5 billion backlog in school construction, with 40 percent of school buildings built 60 years ago. This is unacceptable. This week, the Board of Education will have the opportunity to approve the construction of six new county schools over the next three years, a process that would typically take 12 years, through an Alternative Construction Finance Program. Prince George’s County Public Schools chief executive Monica Goldson and her team have taken great care to ensure that safeguards are in place and the timeline of the program stays on track.
For example, all schools must be delivered no later than July 15, 2024, or the developer will be subject to liquidated damages for each day that they are delayed; a design-build reserve account will be in place for the developer to access should there be cost overruns or unforeseen charges. This is not additional money; it has been built into their availability payment.
Additionally, Prince George’s County Public Schools doesn’t make a single payment until 50 percent of the total design-build costs have been spent by the developer. That incentivizes the developer to proceed deliberately and expeditiously to deliver the schools on time. These are just a few of the safeguards under the contract to ensure the project proceeds on schedule; however, the school system’s procurement process and the underlying intent of the public-private partnership is and has been available for public review online since last year.
