Ten Baltimore County schools are going to get air-conditioning next school year, unless the County Council decides to eliminate the item from the budget. After many years of battling by parents, County Executive Jim Smith has agreed to put the funding in the county budget.
Last night at the county board meeting, parent Laurie Taylor-Mitchell thanked the board for including the item in the budget, but she also suggested the county has only begun to scratch the surface in trying to get all of its schools air conditioned. She said there are about 70 schools that still need to be air conditioned in the county and it would take about a decade to get through the list, even if the district did seven every year. "What are the priorities here?" she said, calling for the county to do an analysis of what schools need it the most.