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IAC seeks rule changes to speed school projects; committee questions reporting and thresholds
Summary
The Interagency Commission on School Construction urged the Appropriations Committee to approve technical and procedural updates in House Bill 233 to raise review thresholds for small projects, clarify reporting lines and replace the December 75% CIP step with staggered reporting. LEAs urged protections for local planning and timing.
The Interagency Commission on School Construction asked the Appropriations Committee on Wednesday to approve House Bill 233, a departmental bill that would revise how the state oversees school facility projects to reduce delays for smaller jobs and clarify longstanding reporting requirements.
"First it increases the threshold of the estimating cost projects," Ed K. Smart, introduced in testimony as chair of the IAC, told the committee, adding the changes are intended "to make the process quicker and more efficient for small projects" that now draw disproportionate review time. Alex Donahue, identified as the IAC executive director, described eight adjustments in the bill that he said would streamline agency reviews and clarify which assessments belong in which statutory sections.
The measures described by IAC staff include consolidating two annual reports on alternative energy and solar into one annual report; separating and clarifying the commission's two facility-assessment programs in statute; and changing the timing and format of capital-improvement plan (CIP) approvals. Donahue said the bill would eliminate the problematic single December "75%" approval round and instead provide the same project-readiness information across three monthly reports in November, December and January.
Mary Pat Fannin, executive director of the Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland, voiced support for the bill’s goal but raised operational concerns: districts need a stable, legally codified date to plan bonding and budgets. "For local education agencies, the IAC 75 approval has long served as the first meaningful indication of the state's potential participation in a project," said Shachita Warner, director of planning and construction for Calvert County Public Schools, warning that eliminating the 75% milestone without a clear replacement could harm local budgeting and debt issuance.
Committee members probed how changes would affect local education agencies (LEAs). Donahue and IAC staff said they have met with superintendents and associations and are drafting several amendments — including language intended to preserve LEA reporting on a four‑year cycle while making state review less burdensome — and signaled one proposed change to raise the threshold that triggers required state reviews. The witnesses said the current dollar threshold of about $1,000,000 is under review and that a figure around $1,250,000 is under consideration for both projects and change orders.
Several committee members sought guarantees that the statutory changes would not remove essential transparency or local planning tools. Donahue said the goal was efficiency rather than lower oversight and stressed the IAC operates with a very low overhead rate compared with comparable grant-management programs.
The hearing was informational; no committee vote was recorded. IAC staff said they will return with proposed amendments and that some items in the bill respond to requests from the Maryland State Department of Education and the Department of General Services.
