Howard County, Md., officials say they have allocated $13 million to renovate and expand the county’s career and technical high school.
The Baltimore Sun reports that the upgrade of the Applications and Research Laboratory (ARL) in Ellicott City will expand the portion of the lab that houses health services and cybersecurity and boost the building’s overall capacity.
ARL enrolls about 1,500 students, and several hundred more must be turned away each year because of space constraints.
The school hosts more than a dozen career academies. The academies are two-year programs that prepare juniors and seniors for college and entry-level employment across a variety of fields, from aerospace engineering to graphic design.
Students can receive industry certifications and college credit as they gain access to internships and other real-world opportunities through local business partnerships.
Howard County School Superintendent Michael Martirano says design work for the project will begin this summer; a groundbreaking and completion date is yet to be determined.
The renovations will better position the school system to meet college and career readiness requirements of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, legislation that invests billions of dollars in state education reforms over the next decade.
The Blueprint seeks to have 45% of high school graduates complete an apprenticeship or an industry-recognized occupational credential by the 2030-31 school year. Today, only about 20% of Howard County students participate in such programs.
