"While some has been done," Frisch said referring to previous designs of a new YBES, "there are significant adjustments that need to be made to the plan."

"If the county executive wants to support the project then the county government should put up the $1 million," so the board can keep that money for possibly more pressing matters, he added.

The amendment passed; Krchnavy was the only one voting against it.

Prefacing his second amendment by saying, "This is very difficult," Frisch then made a motion to delete the request for funds to replace Havre de Grace High School completely from the fiscal year 2014 plan.

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"I'm not opposed to the Havre de Grace community getting a new facility or an upgraded facility," Frisch said. "The issue I have with the inclusion of Havre de Grace High School as [has] been included is that it ignores the situation involving other schools that have been basically in the queue for renovation or new construction for quite some time."

Frisch continued to say that the county executive, in discussions with the board, has said he has "legal authority to insert capital projects as he sees fit even if it's not something the board has evaluated and agrees with." Frisch added that he's not convinced Craig actually has that authority.

Frisch said waiting for the countywide facilities evaluation – an initiative of the county government – to be completed would give a fair and balanced look as to what schools need to be prioritized and would take the politics out of the process.

"I don't think it's fair and I don't think it's completely detrimental to hold off at least for one year to consider putting Havre de Grace High School in our queue at that point," Frisch said.

Frisch said allowing Craig to set his own priorities for school construction sets a precedent that "every year from here on out, whoever may be in the position of political power, can dictate to the school system how we're supposed to align our capital improvement plan."

Fitzpatrick, a Havre de Grace resident, fired back and said while Frisch made good points, it was in the best interest of everyone to keep the HHS funding request in.

Addressing the need for a new HHS, YBES and upgrades to JHS, Fitzpatrick said, is "reasonable" and creates a balance of improvements to schools across the county. Frisch's amendment, he added, would undo that balance.

The amendment to delete funding for HHS failed, with Frisch and board member Joseph Hau voting for it.

If the amendment were to be adopted, Fitzpatrick said, "every single person in this room will go home disappointed" because the school board's request for funding would be in stark contrast to that of the county's.

In all, $6,595,048 was requested on the state level and $1 million from the county for the replacement of YBES and $3,700,000 from the county for HHS.

The board unanimously approved an amendment offered by member Nancy Reynolds to include in an item originally labeled as "stadium upgrades" for Joppatowne High School as other upgrades that were part of a 2009 scope study on the school.

Systemic improvements that will now be a part of that line item include replacement of windows, upgrades to restrooms, stadium turf replacement, lighting upgrades and replacing the majority of the ceiling in the school, Krchnavy noted.

Including inflation, design and engineering costs, the board requested $20.2 million for this project to be split evenly between fiscal year 2014 and 2015.

To fund the Joppatowne project, funding requests for HVAC upgrades at Fallston High School will also be split evenly between fiscal years, $18 million in total and $9 million per year.