Howard County Board of Education appears open to reprioritizing Oakland Mills High renovations

Two weeks after voting to defer renovations at Oakland Mills High School, a Howard County Board of Education member appeared to regret her vote.

It comes as the Oakland Mills High community has been ramping up calls for those renovations to be reprioritized.

While the board is still months away from sending a formal capital budget request that'll go to Howard County Executive Calvin Ball, the window to solidify the projects in that request is getting smaller.

The board on Thursday explored its options for when it gets the proposed capital budget back from the state in January.

Wanting a different vote

Oakland Mills High senior Maren McGillivray-Stubbs found herself testifying for her school again Thursday at the Board of Education's meeting.

"I have two younger brothers, one is currently a sophomore. He will not graduate from a school that is conducive with a learning environment," she said. "My other brother is class of 2032. He will also not graduate from a school that is conducive with a learning environment."

McGillivray-Stubbs also joined others in protest before the meeting, part of an effort to bring back renovation funding for the school.

Following an updated facilities prioritization list, the Board of Education voted 6-1 to defer Oakland Mills High's renovations.

Board member Jacky McCoy said Thursday she should've voted no.

"I can tell you, I made the wrong [choice]. When I did it, I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, why did I do that,'" McCoy said. "I came in here with one decision, and I changed my mind."

Exploring options

Before ending its meeting on Thursday, the board discussed possibly reprioritizing the capital projects list that's now in the hands of the state.

The Nov. 6 vote sent it to the Howard County Council, which voted 3-2 Monday to send it to the state.

Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) superintendent Bill Barnes and other district staff advised that it's hard to say if the current proposed list would even be fully funded.

Also, since it's using things like Built to Learn funds, the board's on a tight schedule.

Barnes added that rising costs continue to be an obstacle.

"We built a brand new high school, start-of-the-art, [it costs] $140 million. Now, we can't even renovate for $180 million four, three years later," he said.

Board member Linfeng Chen warned against reopening discussions.

"[The administration] side has to go back and forth. Remember [in the past] with a middle school, we had to revisit [discussions and] we lost the money," Chen said.

The board also discussed possibly advocating for more funding from the county in the next budget cycle.

During the last budget season, Ball said the county has allocated education funding above what's mandated by the state for years.