Leaders of our Baltimore County Public School system are considering options as they try to reduce overcrowding in the Catonsville area and along the York Road corridor. They have already scheduled community meetings in each region. I am pleased that Superintendent Dance and his staff are engaging parents, community leaders, and other stakeholders.
The Fifth District that I represent stretches from Charles Street to the Harford County line. In the western part of the district, demographic changes over the past decade led to severe overcrowding at places like Rodgers Forge, Stoneleigh, and Hampton Elementary Schools. Older residents are moving out, and younger families are buying their homes, attracted by our excellent public school system.
Overcrowding here has been worse than in the northeast. According to the most recent information from the school system, Stoneleigh Elementary School, for example, is estimated to be 40 percent over its state-rated capacity. That is why the county has pumped tens of millions of dollars into new buildings, an effort I have strongly supported.
But we can’t ignore the northeast. The new numbers paint an alarming picture: Harford Hills Elementary School is approaching 22 percent overcapacity. Several Perry Hall schools exceed their capacity (although the two west of Belair Road are below).
The middle and high schools have not experienced the level of crowding we might expect. Perry Hall Middle School is at 95 percent capacity, Pine Grove Middle School is only at 69 percent, and Perry Hall High School is five percent overenrolled. However, the crowding at the elementary school level will eventually lead to new students in these schools as well.
I was concerned about school overcrowding long before my election to the County Council. The county should have used surplus funds in the 1990s and 2000s to buy land for new schools, particularly for a high school, but that decision was unfortunately not made.
Development is a factor in school overcrowding, which is why I took steps after my election to reduce future growth on 260 acres in Perry Hall. But development is only one factor. Demographics are a bigger influence. There is almost no development in the Harford Hills Elementary School district, but that school is experiencing overcrowding because younger families are moving into this area. It’s the same phenomenon we see in Towson.
We need to be proactive and deal with school overcrowding. Tough decisions need to be made. I will do my best to secure funding for any school improvements in northeastern Baltimore County, but simply saying that we should “build a new school” is not the easiest solution. A school could cost as much as $70 or $80 million, and there is limited land in the areas where a school would be needed.
I am hopeful that Superintendent Dance will start a dialogue now about how to address this problem.