Governor Larry Hogan from the state of Maryland has announced US$50.5 million for critical capital projects in the state of Maryland, including school construction and economic development projects across the state. He also announced that all Maryland SNAP recipients will receive an additional 15% increase in their total benefits beginning this month, while Maryland’s Temporary Cash Assistance families will receive an additional US$40 million in benefits. He said that Maryland was one of the first states to begin accepting claims and issuing payments for the extended federal pandemic unemployment programs.
Of the projects the governor approved of; US$43.5 million will be used for three Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) K-12 capital programs that provide improvements to building systems and school security. Of the US$43.5 million; US$30 million will go to the State Department of Education’s Healthy School Facility Fund, which provides grants to public primary and secondary schools to address facility problems that impact the health of students, staff, and other building occupants. Eligible projects include the installation of air conditioning and heating systems, indoor air quality improvements, mold remediation, plumbing upgrades (focused on eliminating the presence of unhealthy levels of lead in drinking water), and window replacements. US$10 million will go to the Department’s Public School Safety Grant Program, which provides grants to local education agencies for school security improvements based on deficiencies identified through facility safety risk assessments; and US3.5 million will go to the Nonpublic School Security Improvements program, including grants for security and safety improvements to eligible nonpublic schools currently participating in the Maryland Nonpublic Student Textbook Program.
“These shovel-ready projects will help create jobs and lay the foundation for the strongest possible recovery,” said Hogan. “In the coming days, we will be proposing a larger economic and stimulus relief package to provide further support to struggling Marylanders and small businesses.”
