In a split vote last month, the Howard County Board of Education decided to push back renovations and additions for Dunloggin Middle School by one year to fiscal 2026.

Board members Antonia Watts, Jolene Mosley, Jennifer Mallo and Robyn Scates voted in favor of the motion on Nov. 16, while board members Yun Lu, Linfen Chen and Jacky McCoy voted against delaying the work. Student representative Lamia Ayaz did not attend the meeting.

In the vote, the board also affirmed that renovations and additions for Oakland Mills High School will be slated for fiscal 2027.

Lu said she would have liked to see Centennial High School included for funding in longer-range planning.

Dunloggin and Oakland Mills middle schools previously were scheduled to receive full replacement buildings, but on Sept. 28, the board voted instead to fund renovations and additions at both schools. The vote Nov. 16 pushes back renovations at Dunloggin but not Oakland Mills Middle.

Capital projects for Oakland Mills Middle are still in the fiscal 2025 budget, which begins on July 1.

Superintendent Michael Martirano’s proposed $75.7 million capital budget for fiscal 2025 passed by a vote of 5-1 on Sept. 28, with only school board member Chen voting against it. Watts and Ayaz did not attend the meeting or vote.

Mallo made a motion at a September meeting for the board to rescind its decision in April to fully replace Dunloggin and Oakland Mills middle schools, and instead fund renovations and additions at each of the schools. Board members Mallo, Mosley, Lu and McCoy carried the motion in a 4-2 vote. Scates and Chen voted against changing the decision the board made in April.

Director of Capital Planning and Construction Dan Lubeley said the majority of Howard County Public School System capital projects have been renovations, rather than replacements, in the past few years.

Deferred maintenance, current and projected school capacity, and a school’s state-assessed facilities condition index are all important factors in determining a school’s level of priority, Lubeley said. Because school capacity is weighted highly as a factor, portable classrooms at Dunloggin make it a lower priority according to the district’s evaluation metrics.

Dunloggin underwent its most recent major renovation and addition in 1999. That work featured 18 reconfigured and renovated general education classrooms, four science classrooms, and work on the media center to provide offices for student services programs as well as designated rooms for special education.

Funding for a Dunloggin renovation appeared in the board’s long-term plan in 2011, but the project was consistently delayed. In February, the school board submitted its fiscal 2024 capital budget request to the county, asking for $4.4 million and $4.5 million, respectively, to begin work on Oakland Mills and Dunloggin renovations and additions. The budget was approved by County Executive Calvin Ball.

During the school board’s Sept. 21 meeting, 35 residents commented at a public hearing. Most asked the board to prioritize capital projects and Dunloggin Middle and Oakland Mills High schools.