Carroll school board set to allocate funds for school construction projects

The Carroll County Board of Education is set to approve construction plans and allocate funds for school projects that will span the next several years, at a public meeting Thursday.

The school board typically holds a regular meeting on the second Wednesday of each month, but this month’s meeting was moved to Oct. 10.

If approved, the system’s capital budget for fiscal 2026 would be nearly $43 million, up from around $37.7 million in the fiscal 2025 budget . Carroll County Public Schools spent around $52.3 million on capital projects in fiscal 2024 and $45.2 million in fiscal 2023, according to the $467.8 million operating budget for fiscal 2025, which  began July 1.

The school board decided in 2023 to prioritize construction projects at Liberty High, Sykesville Middle, Freedom Elementary, Cranberry Station Elementary, Friendship Valley Elementary, Sandymount Elementary and Taneytown Elementary schools in the 2025 capital budget. While Liberty’s inclusion was largely because the school was determined to be the most out-of-date in the county, additions at each of the other four elementary schools will support prekindergarten requirements in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

The Blueprint is a multibillion-dollar statewide public school reform effort designed to make Maryland’s schools among the highest performing in the country by expanding prekindergarten, directing more resources to schools with higher concentrations of poverty, and increasing teacher salaries, among other ambitious initiatives.

Plans to add 13 classrooms to Sykesville Middle and five classrooms to Freedom Elementary, intended to be a first step in addressing overcrowding in the southern Carroll County schools caused by growing enrollment and based on recommendations from the Southern Area Redistricting Committee, were approved by the Board of Education in August.

A $17.7 million Sykesville Middle project will add or renovate 49,150 square feet of space at the school, increasing capacity by 250 students to a total of 970, according to the specifications. Enrollment is projected to grow to 943 students by 2033, but Caine said the extra capacity will accommodate anomalously large cohorts of students. Sykesville Middle was 28 students over capacity (104%) during the 2022-23 school year, according to the system’s capital budget plan. The project is expected to be complete by summer 2028.

A $7.2 million Freedom Elementary project will add 112 seats and 4,500 square feet to the school, for a total capacity of 637 students, but enrollment at the school is projected to be around 673 students by the time the project is finished in summer 2027, according to the specifications. Freedom Elementary was 92 students over capacity (117%) during the 2022-23 school year, according to the system’s capital budget plan. One of the five new classrooms will be designated for prekindergarten.

The county will pay for about $4.1 million of the Freedom Elementary project and $8.7 million of the Sykesville Middle project, with the state supplying the rest. Each project has been approved by county commissioners. Construction for each project is slated to begin in June 2026.

Enrollment and capacity data will be reassessed when the projects are complete, Superintendent Cynthia McCabe said in August, especially since Freedom Elementary’s enrollment is likely to have grown to exceed the additional space provided by the expansion.

School board meetings are open to the public and live streamed on the Carroll County Public Schools YouTube channel and viewable on the right side of the Board of Education’s website at carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information, under CETV Livestream. Meetings are also broadcast throughout the month on Carroll Educational Television, Channel 21.

Anyone who wishes to participate must fill out an online sign-up form at carrollk12.org/board-of-education/meeting-information or call the communications office at 410-751-3020 by 9 p.m., on the Tuesday before a meeting.

Got a news tip? Contact Thomas Goodwin Smith at thsmith@baltsun.com .