Posted on 09/18/2005 1:50:38 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
In Deer Park Tx, which is neighboring to Galena Park,the superintendent of teh district gets a $700 car allowance. It is a district of less then 50 square miles. He started the job driving a ford truck, I am told he now drives a jag.
Biased guess, but no cigar.
...." because taxpayers aren't getting their money's worth."
The real reason that bonds don't float by voters anymore. My own city school district has floated two bond issues in the past 5 years. One failed, the other did not. Now, the local newspaper is running a story about the city government doing a creative financing deal with the school district because the district is short of funds. I believe that when "Eve" took a bite of the "Forbidden Fruit", it had a National Education Association sticker on it.
I know. I read about outlandish salaries and perks - and usually it comes up when they're booting them out and having to honor their contract.
Good line.
In Texas they have the Robin Hood system. "Wealthy" districts are tapped to help support districts with lower taxes - the "poor" districts. So the "wealthy" districts have to keep passing bonds to stay even with services they need and still be able to fork over money to the "poor" districts.
I believe TX had two special sessions this summer (I'm not in TX now) to sort out school financing. Of course the tax system is so convoluted and business didn't want to get soaked and LIBERALS wanted to keep soaking the other guy. So nothing changed and the homeowners are still stuck with the bill and being asked for more. They're hopping mad.
I'm with you on the extravagance of new buildings. Our school district has embarked on an ambitious plan (now 5 years into a 15 year plan) that essentially ensures that at the end none of their buildings are more than 20 years old. It's expensive, but with the transient nature of a college town, there hasn't been enough outcry.
On the issue of school population though, make sure they are giving you good numbers. Our town is one of the highest growth areas in PA, and our school district launched their building plan claiming they had seen a 20% growth in enrollment between 1990 and 2000. That was true, but the 90's followed the generation X years. What they didn't tell you was that they have NEVER reached the highest total enrollment they had at their peak in 1972. I got the data from the school administration office, and provided the data to the community in an editorial. They took a pause in their building scheme publicity for about 6 months, then said a review showed they really did need it because so many of their buildings had "outdated heating plants" and "leaking windows". They already have 3 more buildings than they did in 1972 for a smaller school population, yet they want to build, build, build. Our tax dollars at work...
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
In California they do that at the state level with the property taxes. My district is considered " above average" and yet, still must go to the voters with hat in hand. The poor districts? Well, they have to use their extra funds to pay for security rather than education. America needs to face the fact that her schools are a mess and get rid of the unions and the hippies on the school boards.
I think it might be.
And teaching in schools of education.
Ten years ago elementary schools in my town were being built for $7 million to $8 million. The most recently constructed elementary schools were in the $20 million range. But ten years ago they didn’t see the need for glass elevators and architectural creations as monuments to the architect. The architects continue to specify obsolete and expensive media and electronics that isn’t even used. The electronic media is so complicated a technician must be hired for each school to operate the stuff for the teachers. But so what, the architects get a percentage of the total construction cost.
Then on the three most recently constructed school the school board found a way to award construction contracts without competitive bids. The non-competitive architect set up a construction management company to act as general contractor and awards subcontracts to whomever they please. All three schools are 6 months late for completion and the school district now has kids on three campuses sharing space with contractors.
I won’t go into how they justified this travesty, but needless to say it was all bogus. Needless to say the school districts are having a difficult time selling the idea of school bonds and resort to all the usual ploys in an attempt to get the bonds passed.
What I’m describing is just the tip of the iceberg.
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