Overlea High School, Baltimore County’s most crowded traditional school, is now at the center of a boundary study, an election-season fight over a new building, and a parent push for faster relief. For families in Overlea, Parkville, Perry Hall, Rosedale and Loch Raven, the decisions made over the next three months could change which high school their children attend starting in August 2027.
The school system’s Overlea High School Capacity Relief Boundary Study Committee held its first meeting on Oct. 7, and candidates from both parties have spent the week pitching their own fixes. Here is what the numbers show, what is actually on the table and when residents can weigh in.
How overcrowded is Overlea High School?
Overlea was more than 500 students above its state-rated capacity in 2025, putting its utilization rate at 145.66%, according to Baltimore County Public Schools enrollment data reported by The Baltimore Sun. That made it the district’s most overcrowded traditional school and second overall, behind only Watershed Public Charter School.
WMAR-2 News has reported that the building was designed for about 1,100 students and enrolls about 1,600, with some classes taught in trailers behind the school. Without intervention, the same district projections show Overlea could reach 167% of capacity by 2028. Baltimore County law treats any school at 110% or more as overcrowded.
| High school | 2025 utilization | Outlook in district projections |
|---|---|---|
| Overlea | 145.66% | Could reach 167% by 2028 without changes |
| Parkville | 93.69% | Stays below the 110% overcrowding line through 2035 |
| Loch Raven | 72.26% | Stays below the 110% overcrowding line through 2035 |
The gap is the core of the debate: two neighboring high schools have open seats on paper, while Overlea is well past the county’s overcrowding threshold.
What is the Overlea boundary study?
The committee will review enrollment patterns and propose new attendance boundaries to balance students among Overlea, Loch Raven and Parkville high schools, according to the district’s schedule published by NottinghamMD.com. Any changes would take effect at the start of the 2027-28 school year and require approval from the Board of Education of Baltimore County.
Members include staff and parents from the three high schools, plus parents from feeder middle schools: Parkville, Nottingham, Loch Raven, Pine Grove, Ridgely and Cockeysville. That list matters for families who do not live near Overlea; neighborhoods feeding into Loch Raven and Parkville could also see their lines move.
When are the meetings, and how can parents comment?
Committee meetings run 6 to 8 p.m. at Nottingham Middle School in Rosedale. They are open to observe and are livestreamed, with materials posted on the BCPS boundary changes page.
- Oct. 7: first committee meeting (held)
- Oct. 21: committee meeting
- Nov. 4: committee meeting
- Nov. 18, 7-8 p.m.: public information session on proposed options
- Nov. 18 to Dec. 16: online community survey open
- Jan. 6: committee meeting
- Jan. 13: optional meeting, only if needed
A public comment tool is also available on the district’s boundary study page. A date for the school board vote has not been announced.
What are students and teachers saying?
In a September report, students told WMAR-2 about crowded hallways and classrooms without enough seats. Overlea PTSA member Shafiyq Hinton said the situation has not improved.
“Well the issue of overcrowding at Overlea, it hasn’t really changed; it’s gotten worse.”
Shafiyq Hinton, Overlea PTSA, to WMAR-2 News
Superintendent Bill Heiser declined an interview for that report, and the district responded with a written statement pointing to the boundary study. At a separate Oct. 5 news conference outside the school, a family raised concerns about disability accommodations, which BCPS said it could not discuss because of student privacy laws, according to the Dundalk Eagle.
Will Baltimore County build a new Overlea High School?
Not yet, and no timeline exists. Area Democrats, including state Sen. Carl Jackson, an Overlea graduate, and County Council nominee Arkia Wade, are pushing for a new building, WMAR-2 reported. School board member Christina Pumphrey said she personally supports a new school.
According to that report, a boundary study is a required first step before the state will help pay for a new school, and funding would likely depend on the area’s lawmakers winning support in Annapolis. For a sense of scale, the new high school in Lansdowne took four years to build.
What is the Golden Ring magnet school idea?
Republican candidates Glen Geelhaar (House of Delegates), Yahu Blackwell (state Senate, District 8) and Tim Fazenbaker (County Council) proposed reopening the shuttered Golden Ring Middle School as a technology and trades magnet school that could draw students from Overlea, Perry Hall and Parkville, WMAR-2 reported. Fazenbaker tied the idea to workforce demand from the planned Anduril shipyard at Sparrows Point.
The Golden Ring building opened in 1930 and closed in 2023 after the school board said it was in poor condition. Pumphrey said the plan is harder than it looks, citing the staffing, transportation and specialized equipment that career and technical programs require.
What happens next for Overlea families?
The near-term relief, if it comes, will be boundary changes for fall 2027, with options expected to go public at the Nov. 18 session. A new building would be a longer, separate fight over state and county construction money. The Nov. 3 general election will also decide several of the seats held or sought by people now weighing in on Overlea.
Parents who want a say should watch the Oct. 21 and Nov. 4 livestreams, attend the Nov. 18 session and submit the survey before Dec. 16. Families elsewhere in the county can follow other BCPS building news, such as Deer Park Elementary’s new net-zero school in Owings Mills.
Featured image: Front of Overlea High School in Baltimore County (2008). Photo: Wallstreethotrod / Wikimedia Commons, public domain.