Posted on 08/22/2010 2:02:02 PM PDT by markomalley
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Next month's opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools will be auspicious for a reason other than its both storied and infamous history as the former Ambassador Hotel, where the Democratic presidential contender was assassinated in 1968. With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation's most expensive public school ever.
The K-12 complex to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la creme of "Taj Mahal" schools, $100 million-plus campuses boasting both architectural panache and deluxe amenities.
"There's no more of the old, windowless cinderblock schools of the '70s where kids felt, 'Oh, back to jail,'" said Joe Agron, editor-in-chief of American School & University, a school construction journal. "Districts want a showpiece for the community, a really impressive environment for learning."
Not everyone is similarly enthusiastic.
"New buildings are nice, but when they're run by the same people who've given us a 50 percent dropout rate, they're a big waste of taxpayer money," said Ben Austin, executive director of Parent Revolution who sits on the California Board of Education. "Parents aren't fooled."
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Everything is so screwed up I feel like going back in the womb.
The $578M price doesn’t include the huge OPPORTUNITY cost of the forgone property taxes that WOULD have been collected if another hotel, condos or other private business, had instead been allowed on that site.
$578,000,000/4,200 students = $137,619/student for K12.
IMHO, in a rural area, you could give each kid gratis a house and a car for that much money, and still have enough left over for a 4 yr college tuition, if pricing were kept competitive.
How bout that...a really nice place for the kids to sell drugs, beat up the honkie and drop out of after a year or two!!!
K-12 per pupil cost of $25,000 breaking the country’s budget
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2563374/posts
The Los Angeles, California Metro K-12 schools “average real per-pupil spending of $19,000 a stunning 90 percent higher than the $10,000 the districts claim to spend. In addition, real public school spending is 127 percent higher than the estimated median private school spending of $8, 400,” Cato’s report stated. The report also claims the figure is actually around the $24,000 per pupil when you add all the real costs to operate a business – salary, operating expenses, health care, pensions and school supplies.
We are also told, by the nuts, that we are the one's with the problem. OY!
I just looked at the picture of the darn school! It looks like a UFO or a bad dream!
http://rfkcommunityschools.org/
The RFK Community Schools are located in the Wilshire Center/Koreatown area of central Los Angeles, serving students from Pico Union and other neighboring communities, which, taken together, comprise the most densely populated area in California. The school-age population in this area is predominantly Latino (84%) and low-income (89%), with 50% classified as English Language Learners.
Unlike charter schools that recruit students from across the city, RFK Community Schools serve neighborhood students and in so doing relieves nearby severely overcrowded sites.
UCLA-CS is located in the Central Los Angeles Learning Center #1, more commonly referred to as the Ambassador Schools Complex, which will house in 2010 six Pilot Schools serving both K-12 and 9-12 student populations. The historic school site has been developed in collaboration with the Robert F. Kennedy Commission and several community-based organizations.
Is the US taxpayer paying for it?
How was it that my father learned english, history, mathematics (he became an engineer) on a slate in a one-room all-grade school in farmland Nebraska, and I got a great public education with nothing but books, papers and pencils?
Where in HELL does all the money go for the non-education kids get these days????
I’m sure those inner city kids will take very good care of their new school, too. After all, they respect education so much, having had such good upbringings with Mom and Dad at home.
Lack of student accomplishment shall continue just like the Missouri schools seized by a federal hack.
“You can lead a horse to water...”
All the best teachers i’ve ever had needed to teach was a blackboard and some chairs. Hundreds of millions extra on glitz and technology wouldn’t have done a thing to improve their results.
Time for pitchforks!!!
The State of California is broke, the county of Los Angeles is broke, the city Los Angeles is broke... and they spent over a half billion dollar for a school for 4,200 students…. Do you really want people like this teaching kid about responsibility and economics?
Looks vaguely Jetsons-like.
It doesn’t matter how nice of a track a kid goes to, if he doesn’t get off his but and run he will never be a track star.
Liberals won’t make kids do the work and it doesn’t matter what kind of school they are sent to.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.