As new school year starts, Montgomery County Public Schools faces $3 billion backlog

When the new school year starts for Montgomery County Public Schools next week, it will come as school leaders are dealing with a maintenance backlog of $3B. About 100 hours before students return to the classroom, Montgomery County Public Schools leaders issued a warning about what kind of buildings they’ll be walking into. The county school system, they said, is operating with an estimated $3 billion deferred maintenance backlog.

“And growing every day,” said Andrea Swiatocha, MCPS’ deputy chief of facilities management. For students and teachers of Maryland’s largest school system, that can mean moldy ceilings, cracked surfaces in parking lots and HVAC systems that can’t be counted on to keep them cool. Read the rest at The Banner Montgomery.