After tromping before the state Board of Public Works to plead for more construction funding for Southern Maryland's public schools, state Sen. Roy P. Dyson (D-St. Mary's) said he doesn't want to leave out the private schools.
He has introduced legislation to exempt nonpublic schools from a septic fee, known as the "flush" tax, that passed the General Assembly last year. Dyson voted against that tax, which public schools and certain other public facilities don't have to pay.
Calvert Commissioner David F. Hale expressed caution about speeding up construction of an indoor pool.
(Mark Gail -- The Washington Post)
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Dyson said he learned that private schools still have to pay up when he attended the Maryland Catholic Conference's annual legislative reception Jan. 6 at St. Mary's Ryken High School.
"This is, simply put, discriminatory," Dyson said in a statement. "I don't support major subsidies for private schools. But I believe the state needs to be a good partner with them."
"Our great . . . public school systems are struggling with overcrowding. If our non-public schools close because they can't pay their bills, it will add more students to our public schools," he wrote.
Dyson said he wrote a letter to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) to seek his support for the legislation. He pointed out that Ehrlich "benefited from the private school experience" by attending the private Gilman School in Baltimore and Princeton University.
"If public schools receive this exemption, private schools should receive the same advantage," he wrote.
The "flush" tax was proposed last year by Ehrlich and adopted by the General Assembly to help fund sewage treatment plant upgrades and replacements that are critical to reducing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.
Go-Ahead on Swimming
Calvert County may get an indoor swimming pool sooner than many expected.
The county commissioners asked staff this week to budget money to begin work on the aquatic center in the next fiscal year, two years earlier than originally scheduled.
"The sooner we do this, the better off we are," said Commissioner Wilson H. Parran (D-At Large). "The demand [for an indoor pool] continues to increase."
Calvert is the only county in Southern Maryland without an indoor pool. In 2003, budget constraints prompted the commissioners to postpone plans to build the facility. But community pressure has recently been mounting to build a year-round aquatic facility for residents.
At Tuesday's commissioners meeting, during a discussion about the county's six-year capital improvements program, the board unanimously decided to budget $1 million for planning the aquatic center in fiscal 2006 (which begins July 1) and $9.8 million for construction the next year.
Commissioners President David F. Hale (R-Owings), however, cautioned that beginning planning as soon as next year could preclude groups such as the College of Southern Maryland or Calvert Memorial Hospital from contributing funding to the project.
