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Division of Program Planning

Included in the Educational Master Plan are the five following mandatory elements:

1. The goals, standards, and guidelines for school system facilities.
2. An inventory and evaluation of existing school facilities.
3. Population, enrollment data and projections for the next five consecutive years and the tenth year (including special and vocational education).
4. A listing and analysis of the facilities utilization and facilities needs for the next five consecutive years and the tenth year, showing use of existing schools and future needs.
5. A community analysis including a description of location by census tract, zoning, and proposed water/sewer.

The first mandatory item (goals, standards, and guidelines for the school system facilities) is presented in the appendices as a compilation of existing Anne Arundel County Public Schools policies and guidelines relating to school facilities.

Mandatory items 2 through 5 (facilities inventory, Form 101; projections, Form 102A; utilization analysis, Form 102B; and community analysis) are shown for each of the twelve high school feeder systems.Redistricting, grade reorganization, and capital improvements are highlighted within each feeder system where appropriate.

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM

The FY 99 Capital Budget request reflects the impending space crunch which continues to be felt countywide. Anne Arundel county Public Schools is projecting a dramatic increase in enrollment in the next ten years as compared to the previous decade. This document provides data which is used to analyze current and projected conditions that impact the use of school facilities. The linkage between the Capital Improvement Program and Redistricting (attendance boundary adjustments) is contained herein.

REDISTRICTING

Redistricting or attendance boundary adjustment is studied every year.By policy, the Board of Education reviews annually the utilization of schools and possible attendance boundary changes and school closings.

There is a strong preference on the part of communities and the Department of Instruction and Student Services to have students attend schools in the same area from kindergarten through grade 12. Much of the requirement is based upon the desire to develop a family-oriented, community-based instructional and emotional support system. In the long term, children can benefit from long-term interactions with the same instructional and student support services personnel when they attend schools in the same area throughout their school years.

With the use of computer-aided student assignment of simulated attendance, realignment models are possible. Many options for each attendance area can be evaluated and may be used as short term solutions while awaiting additional facilities or an increase of capacity by some other means.

LIMITATIONS

In assessing the future needs for school facilities in Anne Arundel County, it must be recognized that there are variables which connot be controlled. These variables are listed below as limitations inherent in this type of long range comprehensive planning:

1. Projecting population trends and enrollments is an inexact science. The smaller the geographic unit, the less exact the calculation. The further into the future, the less reliable the projection.
2. Program needs change and it is difficult to predict those needs very far into the future.
3. Recommendations for renovation, addition, and new construction are subject to State Interagency Committee for Public School Construction priority and State and County funding availability.

SOURCE OF DATA

The source of data contained in the Facilities Master Plan is from records maintained by the Office of Program Planning, the Office of Facilities Planning and Construction, Maintenance and Operations Department and the Department of Instruction of Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

Data from other sources are appropriately noted.

1. United States Census Bureau, Census tracts from Anne Arundel County.
2. Anne Arundel County Department of Planning and Code Enforcement, Comprehensive Zoning map.
3. Anne Arundel County Department of Utilities, Master Plan for Water and Sewer Service.
4. Public School Construction Program, Administrative Procedures Guide.
5. Yield factors represent actual experience from current housing in Anne Arundel County. 1994 School Year.
6. Public School District Demographic Profiles, 1990. Anne Arundel County Office of Planning and Zoning.

COMMITTEE TO STUDY COUNTY-WIDE REDISTRICTING

In the spring of 1994, it became increasingly clear the expanding student enrollment county-wide was continuing to create critical shortages of instructional space. The Board of Education became concerned that the entire county's space considerations should be analyzed rather than continually use a piece-meal approach. Therefore, the Board of Education appointed a County-wide Redistricting Study Committee charged with reporting to the Superintendent its recommendations concerning redistricting in the Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

The Committee was composed of 12 citizens representing the various feeder systems in the county. The Committee gathered extensive information, met in whole or subgroups on some 65 occasions, and presented a set of recommendations to the Board and Superintendent in November 1994.

SCOPE OF PROBLEM

The Anne Arundel County Public Schools are experiencing an extended period of dynamic student growth that is anticipated through the end of this century. This growth started gradually in 1985 and has escalated annually. Currently, we have in excess of 100 relocatable classrooms in place and 34 schools have enrollment exceeding state capacity.

Over the next five years, enrollment in Anne Arundel County Public Schools is projected to increase by approximately 3,000 students. Presently, the greatest overcrowding is being experienced at the elementary level. Throughout the remainder of this decade, that growth will continue to move through the system until, by the year 2005, five of our 12 high schools will be over capacity.

Simultaneous with the growth in student enrollment has been a growth in program space requirements (kindergarten, Extended Elementary Education Program (EEEP), computer and science labs, media expansion, and special education, just to name a few). The fiscal realities are that neither adequate time nor funding will be available to provide all of the additional space required.

The interim solutions, therefore, lie in other forms of relief. In pursuing those solutions, the potential adverse effects of overcrowding on instruction and student behavior must drive decision making with a sense of urgency. The impact of overcrowding include but are not limited to increased discipline/safety problems, lack of flexibility in school space use, degraded learning environment, increased wear and tear on the facility, stressed faculty and staff, infrastructure problems, scheduling problems, restrooms and media/gym areas, impact on other programs, parent/community relations problems, and lack of flexibility in the system as a whole.

IMMEDIATE ACTIONS

The Board of Education moved the vast majority of the redistricting recommendations made by the Citizens' Committee forward to briefings and hearings. Four public briefings and five public hearings were held from January through April of 1995. The Board then adopted a redistricting plan in April of 1995. This plan moves some students, changes some boundaries, builds small wings on some schools, and requests some constructions and renovations. Detailed information on redistricting is available in the Office of Program Planning.

A complete copy of the Facilities Master Plan is on file at the Division of Program Planning or at your local Anne Arundel County Public Library.