After failing to get , the school district will make another bid for state funding to help aid the 154,230-student system. Superintendent Joshua P. Starr proposed almost $221 million in added funding for the district’s school construction plan. The new request would increase the district’s six-year capital improvements program budget from $1.55 billion to $1.75 billion.

A large part of the money will go towards getting 36 projects back on track after they were delayed last year because of budget constraints and the lack of new state funding, according to . If approved, the funding would help 20 school renovation and expansion projects, 14 classroom addition projects and the building of two new schools get back on track. Their completion dates would be moved up by a year, officials told The Washington Post.

Starr and other county officials reported that Montgomery has 17 percent of Maryland’s student enrollment but typically receives about 11 percent of state construction dollars. In fact, even if funding was granted, it would not resolve all the school district’s problems. Several schools have portable classroom trailers, and are not even on the list for construction money.

Major parts of the plan include a proposal to consider relocating the district’s alternative education programs from the Blair Ewing Center in Rockville to the English Manor site in Rockville. The plan also includes $32 million for a bus depot project that schools officials say is needed because the district must vacate its Shady Grove bus depot, with more than 400 buses, by January 2017. Starr’s plan proposes considering the 22.5-acre Ewing site for the new depot, reported The Washington Post.

School officials said they hoped additional state funding would be approved during the legislative session that starts in January. The plan will be discussed at school board meetings and public hearings scheduled in November.

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“The Germantown Bioscience Education Center is a significant component in advancing the state and county’s economic development goals, to further the growth in the technology and life sciences industry,” said Maryland Senator Nancy J. King in a statement. “State funding on this project demonstrates our commitment to ensuring Maryland’s position as a global player in the biosciences.”

Arlington, Va.-based The Lukmire Partnership served as the architect on the project, and Bethesda, Md.-headquartered Clark Construction started construction on the center in March 2011.

The Bioscience Education Center is modeled after a commercial lab, giving students the opportunities to learn real-world techniques while experimenting at the center. Courses that will be offered in the building include biology, biotechnology, chemistry, ecology, genetics and landscape technology. The building will feature classrooms, laboratories, administrative offices and a conference center. Plus, it will house group study rooms, a computer lab and a detached greenhouse. Among the other features is a robotics suite for cell culture, media preparation and protein purification.

The building has a structural steel frame supporting composite metal decks and is wrapped in a high-performance masonry, aluminum panel and curtain wall façade, according to Clark Construction. The scope of work also included completing the campus’ new southern entrance and building new roads to improve traffic flow.

The Bioscience Education Center was designed to achieve LEED Gold certification for its sustainable features, which include solar photovoltaic panels, a green roof system, wind turbines, high-efficiency building systems and water-saving plumbing fixtures. More than 70 acres of forest and a stream valley buffer will be preserved as a part of the campus.

“This Bioscience Education Center will bolster our region’s reputation as a hub for biotechnology and innovation. By offering a world-class environment to educate and retrain the bioscience workforce, the Center will help keep our community, and our nation, at the cutting edge of research and discovery. Institutions like Montgomery College are key to keeping our state and our nation competitive in the 21st century,” said Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) in a statement.

The Bioscience Education Center is part of the college’s long-term plan for the Germantown campus’ Science and Technology Park, which will provide a continuum of life sciences education and training from middle school to postdoctoral levels in an integrated academic, business and research environment. In addition to the center, the Science and Applied Studies building, which previously housed the biology, chemistry and biotech programs, will undergo a two-phase, $39 million renovation and expansion project, reported . Phase I of the renovation project, scheduled for completion in 2018, will include a renovation of the south side of the building facing the new Bioscience Education Center.

Also part of the development plan is the new Holy Cross Germantown Hospital, which will include an emergency room, psychiatric facility and 93 private rooms. The hospital is expected to open this October.

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Del. Anne R. Kaiser (D-Dist. 14) of Burtonsville, chairwoman of Montgomery’s House delegation, proposed a bill that would establish the Supplemental Public School Construction Matching Fund Program, reported . The bill would make it so that counties with a triple-A bond rating and school systems with at least 100,000 students would be eligible for a portion of up to $20 million each year to be used towards school construction projects or project debt.

Elected leaders in Montgomery County have complained for years that the school system accounts for 17 percent of the state’s student enrollment but has received about 11 percent of recent state construction funding, reported. The school system now ranks as Maryland’s largest, with 151,300 students after an enrollment surge of 14,000 students since 2007. That number is expected to continue to rise in coming years.

Leaders hope that banning together will help make a difference in the outcome of the bill; however, the week before the rally, Leggett told The Washington Post that it may take more than one year to secure passage of the bill.

Del. Heather R. Mizeur, a gubernatorial candidate, said that the push for more school money from the state is a three-county effort that also includes Prince George’s and Baltimore counties. When Leggett announced his plan to request funding back in October, he made it clear that Montgomery County expects support from Baltimore City after the county served as a major factor in the Baltimore school system receiving funding.

Montgomery County would use the funding for a proposed $1.55 billion capital improvement budget that would begin in July. The money would supplement the county’s share of regular annual state contributions for school construction. It would support bonds of up to $750 million for 56 construction projects that would add space to the crowded schools.

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