Baltimore City’s school board signed off on the updated agenda for the 21st Century Schools construction project during a Tuesday meeting.

Established in 2010, the 21st Century School Buildings Program aims to address the aging public school buildings within the city. According to the project’s website, the renovated schools are meant to transform student opportunities and provide jobs and resources for families while helping to revitalize each neighborhood the schools sit in.

The latest version of the plan was unanimously approved without discussion.

The Maryland Stadium Authority and Baltimore City Public Schools are responsible for delivering the program, according to a 2024 annual report.

The program’s original goal was to replace or renovate up to 28 city schools by 2020, the report from Tuesday says. Since then, the program added another school, Frederick Douglass High School.

Of the 29 schools, 27 are complete with the last two schools projected to be finished between 2026 and 2027. Those schools include Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School and Frederick Douglass High. The former began construction last fall with a proposed finished date of January 2027, while Frederick Douglass began in summer 2024 with a proposed completion date of August 2026.

In addition to updating school buildings, the program aims to create more jobs. According to the annual report, 1,619 jobs were created for residents, all of which the district says are filled.

With a budget of $1.1 billion, 21st Century Schools secured $6.5 million in additional revenue, while expenses through June 2024 were $500,000 under budget.

The construction has at times disrupted where students learned. City College, the third-oldest public school in the country, is part of the program, and the school board authorized a plan last year to use the University of Baltimore as a swing space. The former Northwestern High School’s building has also been used as a temporary space for schools such as Western High School and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute during renovations and is being used again for Frederick Douglass High students.

The Baltimore City School Construction and Revitalization Act of 2013 birthed the construction program, putting in place a 10-year plan.

The bill, which passed in the final days of the legislative session, according to the stadium authority, authorizes the city, the school board, the Interagency Committee on School Construction and the MSA to cooperate on the plan to improve city schools.

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