School construction ‘beg-a-thon’ format might be toast

Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008

The administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) is exploring ways to modify the tedious Board of Public Works meeting during which a parade of school administrators, politicians and local advocates jockey for an unallocated share of state aid.

‘‘For people who have been a part of this, it becomes kind of a zoo-like atmosphere with dozens of people filing in and out of the reception room,” said Rick Abbruzzese, O’Malley’s press secretary. ‘‘It’s a rushed process and it doesn’t allow for a meaningful discussion of each jurisdiction’s priorities. The name itself speaks to a flaw in the process.”

Discussions on how to scale down the process are still taking place, but Abbruzzese said one hope is that fewer people will appear before the board.

‘‘It would be the Board of Public Works having a discussion with local elected officials,” he said. ‘‘You wouldn’t have 30 or 40 people per jurisdiction coming into the reception room.”

Last year, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller lampooned the exercise as too demanding of lawmakers’ time during the session and an inefficient way to prioritize funding needs. Dozens of orange-clad Baltimore parents and community members accompanied the delegation during its presentation, lending to the circus atmosphere. And state lawmakers often appear alongside their local delegation.

School construction funding should be ‘‘based on merits,” Miller (D-Calvert, Prince George’s) said last year, ‘‘not on whether the president of the Senate comes forward or who comes forward with the largest delegation. ... These people should be running their schools. These people should be running their county government. And we should be down on the floor of the House and Senate.”

He reinforced his position this week. ‘‘Construction of schools should be decided on the merits. It should be done not based on politics, but on giving kids the best possible education.”

This year’s beg-a-thon is scheduled for Jan. 30. The board will be asked to approve $225 million in funding recommendations made by the state’s Interagency Committee on School Construction. That means only $75 million of the $300 million that O’Malley wants to put toward school construction is up for grabs.

Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D) also railed against the current format, which began under Gov. William Donald Schaefer.

‘‘It’s an unnecessary expenditure of time on the part of legislators and school officials,” she said. ‘‘I can’t help thinking there has to be a reasonable and productive alternative.”

Several lawmakers agree.

The time for the ‘‘beg-a-thon” has come and gone, said Montgomery County delegation chairman Charles E. Barkley (D-Montgomery).

‘‘I don’t think there’s a need for the beg-a-thon because 75 percent of the money available is already allocated before the event happens,” he said. ‘‘I’d be willing to let the governor work with the counties to allocate the rest ... based on county needs.”

Charles County delegation Chairman Murray D. Levy would prefer to allow each jurisdiction to meet with the board individually to outline its needs, instead of only having several minutes to make their case at a single public meeting.

‘‘I don’t know how they can possibly gather any information of great value,” said Levy (D-Charles).

However, Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot said the current system is an efficient survey of each jurisdiction’s school construction needs.

‘‘This is an information-thon, not a beg-a-thon,” Franchot (D) said. ‘‘I would register strong support for maintaining the tradition of the Board of Public Works.”

And David Lever, executive director of the state’s Public School Construction Program, echoed the positive aspects of the beg-a-thon.

‘‘For the members of the Board of Public Works, they get to hear directly from the school systems and local governments about the urgent issues and it makes it very real, very prescient for them,” he said. ‘‘For the local officials, it is often their one time of year ... to bring their issues forward, face to face with the people who make these decisions.”

Staff writer Janel Davis contributed to this report.