Worcester County Delegation Calls on Governor to Fund New Buckingham School
The Worcester County Delegation, made up of Senator Mary Beth Carozza and Delegates Wayne Hartman and Charles Otto, have continued to press Governor Wes Moore and his Administration for State funding to build a new Buckingham Elementary School in Berlin. A second letter to the Governor follows a meeting held at the State level on October 23rd to discuss the critical importance of the new Buckingham School for students and the entire community. As a result of the meeting, Worcester County has submitted a revised FY 2025 Capital Improvement Program which included a request for planning approval and design funding approval. In the November 28th Worcester County Delegation letter to the governor, it was stated that the Buckingham Elementary community has been patiently waiting for nearly 20 years while a new Ocean City Elementary School (2005) and a new Showell Elementary School (2020) were built and that it is now time to build the Buckingham Replacement School and to provide Buckingham Elementary students with the school and the future they deserve.
Additional Information and Full Letter:
Also, Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) Executive Director Alex Donahue committed to reviewing the IAC adjacent schools ruling and to explore a pathway to secure funding for the Buckingham project. See the letter below…
THE MARYLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND 21401
November 28, 2023
Governor Wes Moore
100 State Circle
Annapolis, Maryland 21401-1925
Dear Governor Moore:
We as the Worcester County Delegation are following up on our October 17 letter to you to reiterate our full support for the Buckingham Elementary Replacement School in Berlin, Maryland to be eligible for State school construction funding. We thank Meghan Music of your staff and Alex Donahue, Interagency Commission on School Construction Executive Director, for meeting with us on October 23 to discuss the critical importance of the new Buckingham Elementary Replacement School for our students and the entire Worcester County community.
As way of background, the residents and community of Berlin were alarmed to learn earlier this fall that the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC), using a new interpretation of adjacent schools, determined the Buckingham Elementary Replacement School project to be ineligible for State school construction funding. The IAC has reversed its previous position to now declare north end Worcester County schools Ocean City Elementary, Showell Elementary, and Berlin Intermediate Schools as “adjacent schools” to Buckingham Elementary School (BES).
The Buckingham Elementary community has been patiently waiting for nearly 20 years while a new Ocean City Elementary School (2005) and new Showell Elementary School (2020) were built. Built in 1978 with no major renovations or additions in 45 years, Buckingham Elementary School is a community school, the largest Title I school in Worcester County, with 60 percent of BES students coming from homes of poverty and qualifying for Free and Reduced Meals. It is one of only two Worcester County schools which utilize portable classrooms (five) as instructional space, four instructional spaces have been carved out of its media center, and it has a bus parking area not designed for bus traffic, making for a growing safety concern at the school. The 2023 Buckingham Elementary Feasibility Study determined that, along with acute instructional and support space deficiencies, the existing school’s mechanical and electrical systems, “open space” classrooms and interior finishes have reached the end of their serviceable life and are in need of replacement.
Our strong concern with this preliminary IAC determination is based on the fact that four years ago when Worcester County requested State funding for the Showell Elementary Replacement School project, the IAC determined that neither Buckingham Elementary nor Berlin Intermediate School were considered adjacent schools to Showell Elementary. We are requesting that the same IAC adjacent school interpretations and determinations which resulted in Worcester County Public Schools receiving $8,672,000 of State construction funding for the Showell project be applied to our request for Buckingham Elementary funding. In addition, we are requesting that the IAC consider some funding mechanism, which
would allow us access to the $5,599,322 Built-To-Learn school construction funding allocated to Worcester County by the Maryland Stadium Authority through the 2021 Built-To-Learn legislation.
During our October 23rd meeting, we appreciated that IAC Executive Director Alex Donahue listened as Worcester County School Superintendent Lou Taylor outlined our concerns with the IAC ruling and responded to questions by the Worcester County Delegation and by Senate Education Chair Brian Feldman who participated in the meeting. At Mr. Donahue’s direction, Worcester County has submitted a revised FY 2025 Capital Improvement Program which included a request for planning approval and design funding approval. We appreciate that Mr. Donahue committed to reviewing the IAC adjacent schools ruling and to explore a pathway to secure funding for the Buckingham project.
One of the ideas brought up during deliberations with the IAC, to build a much larger school construction project which would combine Buckingham Elementary and Berlin Intermediate into one school, simply is unworkable. The issues and drawbacks resulting in combining the two schools include site size restrictions at both Buckingham and Berlin Intermediate which may result in the Worcester Board of Education and county government attempting to locate a 25-30 acre site in the north end of Worcester County to build the school; current traffic issues at Berlin Intermediate at student drop-off and pick-up times resulting in backups on to Maryland Route 113; and a potential Pre-K through Grade 6 school with a projected enrollment of 1,200 students and the construction and project costs for such a large project, the majority of which would be borne by local government.
The Buckingham Elementary Replacement School project is critical to the students and parents of Buckingham Elementary, and the entire Worcester County community. Of the three elementary schools in the northern region of the county, Buckingham also represents the highest concentration of minority students with 42 percent identifying as non-white. In the 1978 published Buckingham School History, the history of Buckingham Elementary was traced from its current facility back to the establishment of The Berlin Academy in 1765. It is now time to build the Buckingham Elementary Replacement School and to provide our Buckingham Elementary students with the school and the future they deserve.
In Service,
Mary Beth Carezza
Charles J. I the
CHARLES OTTO
State Delegate – District 38A
MARY BETH CAROZZA State Senator – District 38
Wayne & Warto
WAYNE HARTMAN
State Delegate – District 38C
cc: Governor’s Chief Legislative Officer Eric Luedtke
Executive Director Alex Donahue, Interagency Commission on School Construction Senate President Bill Ferguson
House Speaker Adrienne Jones
Senate Budget and Taxation Chair Guy Guzzone House Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes House Ways and Means Chair Vanessa Atterbeary
