Prince George’s County Schools
Maryland
The PG County Council added a PLA to the construction of six new schools in the county. It blew up the budget.
Prince George’s County Maryland is facing a critical shortage of adequate school facilities. Currently, there is a middle school capacity deficit of over 2,000 seats. As a result, the County approved a plan to spend between $25 million to $30 million a year for the next 30 years - nearly a $1 billion - to build six new schools in the county, under a Public-Private Partnership.
After the plan was approved the County Council, caving to local unions, placed a mandatory PLA on the school construction. The PLA increased the costs beyond the budgeted amount, causing the Superintendent of Schools to ask for more capital funds. Instead, the County chose to dip into school programming for things like summer school and academic supports to fund the added costs of the PLA.
How it failed
The PLA added significant costs due to the project.
A large coalition of minority-owned businesses wrote to the County Council decrying the fact that PLAs discriminate against minority-owned businesses.
The Superintendent of Schools placed the blame for the cost increase solely on the decision to require a PLA. Read the Superintendent’s letter here.
Rather than stand up to politically active labor unions, the County opted to cut funding for students to fund the giveaway to unions.
