Schools, sports and politics rarely mix, but they are all intertwined in a brewing debate about turf fields in Howard County.
When the General Assembly passed legislation last spring increasing the state alcohol tax by 50 percent -- from 6 percent to 9 percent -- $4 million of the additional revenue earned this year was earmarked to go to Howard County for school construction projects.
On Oct. 5, the state Board of Public Works, composed of Gov. Martin O'Malley, Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot, approved $4 million in projects requested by the county school system. Half of the money is slated to replace grass football fields with artificial turf at Hammond and Atholton high schools, both in Columbia. The other $2 million is to be used on various renovation projects at three other Columbia schools.
The county school board must approve the projects, and if it does, the schools would be the first in Howard County to have artificial turf fields. The board is scheduled to discuss the projects at its meeting Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m.
School board member Ellen Giles said she's unsure whether the board will vote on the projects Thursday because "there are literally hundreds of questions" about the process, which deviates from normal procedures used in state funding of school construction.
"I think it's a general discussion about the whole issue," she said. "If action comes out of it, that's entirely possible."
If the board rejects the project, "we'll have to revisit the process," school system Chief Operating Officer Ray Brown said.
Unlike grass fields, which generally are used only for games to avoid wear and tear, turf fields allow for extensive use and require less maintenance, according to a report from a subcommittee of the school system's Interscholastic Athletic Advisory Committee formed to study the possibility of converting Howard school stadium fields to turf. The subcommittee recommended last year that the school system work with the county Department of Recreation and Parks to convert the fields for shared use.
The county liked the committee's idea and laid out a plan to gradually fund the conversions through the Recreation and Parks budget, starting with schools with the least amount of on-site field space.
Upon learning of the alcohol tax funding, subcommittee chairman Jack Milani said he asked the county executive and state delegations if the money could be used to jump-start the plan. Del. Guy Guzzone, chairman of the county's House delegation, said Milani approached him and he thought it was a good idea.
In a letter sent to school board members last week, County Executive Ken Ulman said he believes the state alcohol tax funding allowed the plan to further fall into place.
"Members of the Howard County delegation lobbied hard in Annapolis to ensure that we got our full share of this additional funding and then worked with HCPSS officials to include funding for improvements at Oakland Mills and Wilde Lake High Schools, as well as the replacement of the grass fields at Atholton and Hammond High Schools, both of which have to send teams off-site to practice, raising safety and other concerns," Ulman said in the letter.
Political pressure?
But at least one local elected official has raised concerns about the county's funding priorities.
"I'm very concerned that turf fields would be given precedence over leaky roofs and other classrooms," said Sen. Allan Kittleman, a West Friendship Republican. "The money would not be going to turf fields if there wasn't pressure by the elected officials."
The school system selected the turf field projects, and renovation projects at three other schools, "after considerable review of the options available and in close coordination with local elected officials and agencies," according to the agenda item the school system prepared for Thursday's meeting.
Brown declined to further explain the system's decision.
"We're going to have that discussion at an open public board meeting on Thursday," he said.
Kittleman also said his conversations with school board members and system officials, which he declined to detail, have led him to believe that the county executive pressured the school system to use the funding for turf fields.
But county spokeswoman Kathy Sloan-Beard said neither Ulman nor any other county officials were involved in the decision.
"County staff has been working with the school system staff on the field issue for nearly a year," she said in an email response to a question. "However, it was the school system's decision to request these fields as part of supplemental (state) capital funding."
Regarding the choice of which schools would get the fields first, she said: "Hammond and Atholton were always the highest priorities for field conversions because of a lack of on-site space at these schools as determined by HCPSS."