Harford would spend $122 million on building and renovating schools, under County Executive David Craig’s budget proposal.

Seven new schools or major renovation projects would be funded in the proposed $279.8 million capital budget.

 The projects include completion of a replacement for Bel Air, new replacement projects for Edgewood High School and Deerfield Elementary School, the modernization of Joppatowne Elementary and new elementary schools on Vale Road and Shucks Road north of Bel Air.

“The benchmark for a quality school system is good teachers and good administrators, but it is also important to have good facilities,” Craig said Tuesday after touring the $80 million replacement Bel Air High School under construction between the existing building and Route 1.

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“Our infrastructure, whether we’re talking about schools or roads, has not kept up with growth. The new schools will catch us up.”

New housing can’t be approved in nine school districts around the county because adequate-public-facilities laws prevent residential growth in areas where schools are overcrowded, said Dan Rooney, senior planner for the county.

The new construction projects could open several of those areas to new development, though how many would depend on an elementary school redistricting process set to begin next fall, schools spokesman Don Morrison said.

Craig emphasized that though the county is likely to get up to 20,000 new residents as a result of growth at and around Aberdeen Proving Ground by 2011, it is difficult to predict where they will settle.

The additional school capacity also will help the county achieve its goal of eliminating classes in portable classrooms by 2010, Craig said.

 Bel Air High School is scheduled to open in August 2009 and will have capacity for 200 more students than the school it replaces, Bel Air Principal Joe Voskuhl said.

The new elementary schools around Bel Air, scheduled to open in 2010 and 2011, will add another 1,300 seats to an area where development is hobbled by overcrowded schools such as Forest Lakes and  Youth’s Benefit elementary schools.

The County Council will have several public hearings around the county in the next few weeks before voting on the budget May 27.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com