Staring down at the almost completed gymnasium from the viewing area on the second floor, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley experienced a taste of what students at WJ go through everyday due to the lengthy modernization process.
O’Malley, accompanied by a score of county and state officials, including County Executive Isiah Legget and MCPS Superintendent Jerry Weast, toured WJ on Sept. 3 to observe WJ modernization.
According to Principal Christopher Garran, O’Malley’s visit was a way to see how capital funds are being spent by school districts.
WJ modernization is the largest phased school construction project in Montgomery County. The entire modernization process will cost a total of $110 million. Of that, $27 million comes from state funding.
State dollars for education projects are allocated on a county-by-county basis. County legislators and executives then decide how to administer funding for specific schools.
According to Garran, each department at WJ met before construction and decided what their individual departments needed in terms of additional classrooms, labs, or whatever else was deemed necessary through construction. Based on these meetings, come departments requested adn were granted additional resources.
“[We] are constructing a second digital art lab because that program is growing and we need to do more to support that program,” said Garran.
The Division of Construction, a MCPS committee responsible for allocating resources to various school construction projects, works closely with schools under construction to plan the best space possible. In order for MCPS to receive funding from the county government, they must submit a budget request that includes the recommendations from the Division of Construction.
“All the money decisions are not based here in school,” said Assistant Principal Christopher Merrill.
But according to a spokeswoman for the governor Christine Hansen, no matter where the money decisions are made the priority still is to ensure that schools are well funded and students are provided with the best education available.
