Arnold Elementary Study Included in Capital Budget

Next week, the Anne Arundel County Board of Education will hold two public hearings to discuss the proposed operating and capital budgets for fiscal year 2014. 

The proposal from Superintendent Kevin Maxwell calls for more than $1 billion in operating expenses and a capital budget of about $240 million. 

The capital budget includes requests to fund expansion and renovation projects at many schools, including $2.23 million for a feasibility study at Arnold Elementary School. 

That study would look at five options for construction at the school, which was first built in 1967. Those options are: 

• Do nothing
• Patch and paint
• Revitalization
• Modernization
• Replacement

Once the study is complete, Maxwell and his staff will recommend a course of action in a future budget year, and the board will make the final determination. Arnold Elementary is listed on the school system's six-year capital plan for construction in fiscal year 2015.

The proposed capital budget expenditure represents a portion of the total cost of the projects. Other funds have either been spent in previous years or are expected to be included in later years. 

Public hearings on the budget will be held at 7 p.m. on Jan. 8 and Jan. 10 at Old Mill High School. The school board will vote on the adoption of the budget request in on Feb. 20. The county executive and County Council may then amend or accept the budget before final approval in June.

Odenton Patch editor Tim Lemke contributed to this article.