May 13th, 2016 by WCBC Radio

Dr David Lever, Maryland’s chief school construction official-and a key player in helping secure state funds for the new Allegany High School project- abruptly resigned this week during a heated meeting of the state Board of Public Works. At that meeting, the board voted 2-1 to hold back millions of dollars in school construction money from Baltimore and Baltimore County unless officials there install air conditioning in all classrooms by the start of the next school year. Lever, executive director of the Interagency Committee on School Construction — a nonpartisan state agency that recommends which projects the state should fund, called the vote a "politicization of a process that really needs to be professional and objective." Lever has worked closely in the past year with the Allegany County Board of Education including through the Wednesday meeting which was attended by Board president Ed Root, vice president Laurie Marchini and School Superintendent David Cox.   Marchini tells WCBC News that Dr Lever’s resignation is a great loss for the system- and a great loss for Allegany County….