Superintendent of Schools Sydney Cousin this week unveiled a $125 million school construction proposal for the coming year that includes continuing a large-scale renovation of Mt. Hebron High School, adding dance studios at Hammond and Centennial high schools, and money to search for a new school site in the Route 1 corridor.

The $125 million plan for fiscal 2010, which begins July 1, 2009, represents a 55 percent increase over the system's current $80.5 million capital spending plan.

Cousin attributed the hike to construction inflation, saying that the average cost per square foot of school construction has increased more than 50 percent in the past five years.

Cousin was scheduled to present his capital budget proposal to the school board at its Sept. 4 meeting. The school board has scheduled a public hearing on the budget Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The board meets at the Department of Education, at 10910 Route 108, in Ellicott City.

In an interview, Cousin described the budget as "a continuation of past budgets.

"The most important thing is maintaining the buildings we have," he said.

The largest chunk of Cousin's spending plan -- nearly $29 million -- would be dedicated to systemic renovations at Stevens Forest Elementary in Columbia, Hammond elementary and middle schools in North Laurel, and the system's central offices in Ellicott City. The renovations would include upgrades to lighting, electrical and HVAC systems.

Another big-ticket item in the plan is $27 million to continue a renovation and expansion at Mt. Hebron High School projected to cost a total of $57 million and be completed in 2011.

The project, which officials have said is the costliest school renovation in county history, follows years of debate over the scope of the renovation and pleas from some teachers and parents at the school for an entirely new building.

Under the renovation plan, the 43-year-old building will receive a two-story 70,000-square-foot addition, a significantly retooled HVAC system, larger classrooms and laboratories, upgrades to plumbing and electrical systems and 10-foot-wide hallways throughout the school.

Dance studios funded

New initiatives in Cousin's budget include dance studios for Centennial and Hammond high schools and a search for an elementary school site along the Route 1 corridor.

Centennial and Hammond are the only two county high schools without a dance studio. Dance classes are offered at all schools as a fine arts credit.

"It's to bring equity to those schools," Cousin said.

The school system's enrollment projections indicate a need for a new elementary school along the Route 1 corridor in either Elkridge or North Laurel in coming years, Cousin said.

To prepare the board to purchase land, Cousin is proposing to add $3 million to the $9.6 million currently in the board's site acquisition and construction reserve fund.

Also included in Cousin's plan are two projects that have been deferred for the past three years: funding for a new maintenance facility and the renovation of the former Cedar Lane School building in west Columbia.

School officials hope to convert the Cedar Lane building into school offices, meeting space and a community center in a joint project with the county government.

The system hopes to relocate its maintenance and grounds crews to a new facility in order to free up their current base, the Harriet Tubman High School building. Officials have said they want to use the Tubman building, which before desegregation was the county's lone high school for black students, for community use.

"The reason we keep requesting those projects is because they're much-needed projects," Cousin said. "Our maintenance facility is obsolete and needs to be replaced."

The Board of Education and County Executive Kenneth Ulman must review the schools' capital plan before the County Council approves funding in May 2009.

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