Wednesday, August 25, 2010

From the Land of Busted Budgets and State Bankruptcy . . . A $578 million High School


You heard me right. A half billion dollar high school. It's more expensive than China's Olympic Stadium. It has fine art, a faculty dining room finer than most restaurants, and countless other luxuries that equal about $250,000 per child. This happened when the school system had a $640 million shortfall that caused the layoffs of 3,000 teachers.
People ask why we are so tough on government. Why is it that conservatives and libertarians do not trust government to do anything. Right here is the answer. This school district laid off teachers so that a high school could have avant garde architecture and fine art. It got rid of experienced educators so it could have a school more expensive than almost any professional football stadium in the United States. This money was not even invested in instructional and educational needs, but swimming pools and fine art.
On top of all that, this school was built by the worst school district in the entire country, L. A. Unified. This district has a 35% dropout rate. Maybe a state of the art swimming pool can convince kids to not drop out? I have my doubts.
The current superintendent cannot even defend the project, saying it was planned before his time. He has the good sense to plan to not attend the ribbon cutting of this monstrous insult to the taxpayers.

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