[wintertime]

You are also correct that when districts spend money on apparent frills (such as your building with mosaics) it should not be surprising that many taxpayers get upset only because they are so visible to people driving by a school.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Drive by any government high school and you will find that it is the MOST expensive, largest, most beautifully maintained and manicured building and grounds in the entire community. There are very few exceptions to this observation. In most cases there is nothing even comparable.

[billbears]

And before you go on with your ridiculous argument's next step, I don't agree with public sponsored schools in any way. They should all be privatized. However under the 'excellent' leadership of Republicans, billions more have been thrown at the problem, bureaucratic redtape at levels never seen have been introduced, and intelligent children are held back while those of lower intelligence are pushed to catch up. But that doesn't change the fact, many teachers aren't paid what they're worth. Even in a private system, teachers should be paid accordingly for their job

[luckystarmom]

Not in San Jose. The high schools are ugly. The only high in the area that is pretty is Los Gatos High School. It's older, probably built in the 30's and has beautiful Art Deco architecture with a beautiful front lawn.

In Dallas, they are acceptable, but nothing great.

In the newer communities outside of Dallas (Allen), they have beautiful high schools.

[bwteim]

While I agree that some districts have built Taj Mahals, your statement is a generalization. For every "expensive, largest, most beautifully maintained and manicured building and grounds in the entire community" there is probably a town where the high school is in an aging facility.

Also, you do realize that this is also a Catch 22? If a school is NOT maintained and grounds are not kept up, there's heck to pay as well. There'd be a long complaint line if our local schools were not well maintained.