March 2, 2020 – In January, County Executive Marc Elrich released a $4.23 billion Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that reduced the school district’s construction budget by $100 million over six years. As a result, MCPS has announced its recommended amendments to its CIP, which includes the delay of the proposed expansion of BE for two years pushing the opening of the expansion from the start of the 2023-2024 school year to the 2025-2026 school year.
What does this mean to the B.E. community? BE is currently at 670 students, which is +100 over its current capacity. If the average growth rate of approx. 30 students per year continues, BE would be +250 over capacity before the new expansion would come online. This growth rate is not unreasonable given the ongoing development that will be continuing during this period. The options for re-configuring the existing space and the use of portables will not be able to fully address this overcrowding.
What can you do?
1. You can attend the Board of Education hearing on Thursday, March 5 at 6pm to show your support for moving the expansion back to its original timeline. Click here for more details about the meeting.
2. Write to the County Executive, Marc Elrich, County Executives and members of the Board of Education. Click here for a sample letter and email addresses.