We don’t know what it’s like in the other 56 states, but in California we have an interesting situation in which morons are in charge of the education system.
In Riverside, California (the Editor’s hometown) the voters approved construction of a new high school back in 2007. The total cost of its construction eventually reached an astounding $100 million.
One. Hundred. Million. Dollars. For that kind of money the school mascot should be George Soros.
Construction is now complete, but the district can’t afford to open it because it would cost another $3 million to operate it each year and the district is tapped out. So neighboring schools will remain overcrowded while the new Hillcrest High School gathers dust and cobwebs.
Yahoo News reports the idiocy:
Wendell Tucker of the Alvord Unified School District said the district’s $130 million operating budget had been cut by $25 million.
“When the California budget goes down and income in the state goes down, funding to K-through-12 education goes with it,” Tucker told USA Today. “We made a number of budget adjustments. Right now, we simply are out of adjustments, and it’s not feasible … to open this school.”
And it’s not clear that things will be any different in 2012. “We’ll look at it on a year by year basis,” Tucker added.
But wait. We know this is hard to believe, but it gets worse.
… even though the school won’t be in use, the district will still have to spend $1 million to maintain the buildings and run air conditioning and other systems, to keep them from deteriorating.
May we be so bold as to suggest that if the school ever opens it might be a good idea to make economics a required class.
H/T: Kimmy Queen
Source: Yahoo News
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021
View Comments (30)
I am watching "The Lottery" It is an AMAZING documentary. The b*tch lesbiany lady who called the charter lady a liar and arrogant is just the TYPICAL b*tchy ugly on the inside and outside lesbiany democrat liberal progressive that exist. I recommend this documentary if you haven't yet seen it. I have no idea what I can personally do, but I find the teacher's unions to be disgusting.
Jeez, are the hallways paved with gold? Diamond chips in the locker locks? Why ever was it so expensive to begin with and who was the Moron who decided to build it knowing that it would caost anywhere NEAR this much? Of course, I can't rally complain. At least California is spending SOMETHING on education. Texas, on the other hand is cutting funding as fast as their greedy little hands can be raised/signing the bills. We are already something like 48th in the 50 states in edication spending, we have drop outs everywhere in the state, but higher numbers in the poorer areas who desperately NEED an education. I guess we are going for a record.
Yeah, we're spending amazing amounts on education. It's results we're lacking in.
Excellent article referencing 57 states and economics !!!!!EXCELLENT
Why that would be an ideal refuge for the poor homeless migrant workers who have just slipped over the border in search of a better life! Perhaps my dear friend Coddy --Mr Farnsworth to you-- could be the Supervising Director.
This is one reason why I will never move back to California. I love the state. It has mountains, deserts, beaches, and farmland. There is something for everyone and no other state in the nation like it. But the idiots are in control in Sacramento and as long as they are, the quality of life will continue to decline for those who work their asses off to live there.
What will happen when most of the wealth creators jump ship and leave? Who will foot the bill for this kind of BS and tons of illegals who come to suck the government teats?
I think there's something wrong with the water in Sacramento. It seems everyone who goes there turns into an idiot. But, if anyone ever DOES have to visit, for whatever reason, don't miss this burger joint. It's fantastic.
http://www.thesqueezeinn.com/
Kalifornia is broke, and this is just one example of why...Cities all over spent money as fast as they could to build schools they now are closing because they can't afford to pay the teachers, who buy the way are constantly in Sacramento protesting about the schools not getting enough money...And some cities have a drop out rate of 50 percent, mainly because the students are bored with classes that teach them nothing. You look at the majority of students who do Graduate, most of them can't get into college because they can not read or write. Why can they not read or write, because they are too busy learning crap that makes no sense. The teachers of course say only more money will solve the problems...Kalifornia spends the majority of its budget on education..Its like a black hole in space, and its finally starting to collapse on itself. The Californai Teachers Association is right under the SEIU in terms of membership and power, and both are constantly at the capital steps saying "gimme"...Its gotten to the point where we can only afford two things, education and prisons...both are sucking up cash faster than Obama's stimulis spent it.
Does California use the school voucher system? If so, turn the school over to a private concern. Allow them to screen and pick the students (not necessarily for marks but for desire). No teacher union but individual contracts paying a generous base and a bonus for performance. Also create a contract with the students (or Parents/Guardians) that outlines what the student needs to do to stay in the school and the circumstances where they will be expelled (excessive absenteeism, drug or weapon possesion, failure to maintain minimum grade standards etc). The school would have responsibilities as well such as providing a safe, clean environment for the students, remedial help for students in academic trouble, accurate progress reports for the parents etc.
I know this is a pipe dream but I'll bet that if this were to come about the lineup by parents (and kids) to get into this place would be massive. Of course, that's probably why it wouldn't happen.
California is about at the point where falling into the ocean would be an improvement.
We need to INVEST in education. Come on people! Say it with me...INVEST in education. It's for the children!
Insanity... clear and complete insanity. Insanity on all levels. I cannot even understand why more people in California are not pissed. What does it take for people to get some knowledge and do something about their freaking state? Why not just demolish the darn thing? or better yet sell it to a private company perhaps it could become a charter school, or a private school or even perhaps a state college/university. What is wrong with these people? Why are they so insane?
It isn't just a California problem KQ, all states have the same problem. In New Mexico all schools are funded by the state based on how many students attend that school. All schools in the rural parts of the state, like in the little town I live in, do not have enough students to qualify for more funding so the local school boards have to beg the state
for "supplemental" funding to keep the doors open. And this silliness goes on year after year.
The kicker is, in New Mexico anyway, a percentage of all local property taxes must be spent on education but it cannot be used for books or teachers salaries, by state law it must be used for building maintainence or new construction. The money cannot be saved for a rainy day, again by state law, it has to be spent even if it makes no sense to spend it.
If you ever decide to get out of the city, head over to eastern New Mexico and check out all the little towns with gyms and football fields that any college team would be proud to play in or on. School district superindents making over $90,000 per year, running a school system with less than 300 students. I can even show you several schools that have less than 200 kids, K through 12, each with their very own superintendent making $90 grand per year or more.
Money for education is not the problem, it never has been. How and where our money is being spent is the problem, and it always has been. Too many people in "administration" and not enough teachers in the classroom. Three year old, Pre K, kindergarten programs, all a waste of education money. Schools were never meant to be taxpayer funded daycare centers but that is what schools have become. None of these daycare programs were around when I started school, in the first grade, and I learned reading, writing and learned that two plus two equals four.
I learned how to think for myself because I had to read a history or geography book then write a report on what I had read. I had to take a civics class where I learned how our government works and why our economy, if gooberment would get out of the way, made us the richest, most generous, powerfull society ever known to man. Then I look at the kids in school today, many of whom I deal with every day at the store, and they do not know how much change I should give them.
They have no idea of how much change they should get back when paying for a $2.89 purchase with a $5.00 bill. They cannot read nor do they know anything about our history. Geography or civics is out of the question. Most of the high school graduates I know today cannot find North Dakota on a map nor do they understand how our government works.
The "dumbing down" of America has worked very well. We keep paying more and more and our children get less and less. And until these so-called "parents" we see today get the message we will continue to see public education go down the toilet, one flush at a time.
That is why I am glad that I had my primary education elsewhere and I will not allow my children (if I have them) to go to a US public school.
Remember they are government schools, not public schools.
That's true, thatguy. And we should endeavor to call them that whenever referring to them.
Talk about dumbing down. My niece, the one who believed her friends when they told her that "pulling out" was an effective form of birth control, was complaining that all the restaurants in Lebanon, PA sucked. I was telling her about some of the wonderful restaurants we have here in San Diego, and I mentioned a new one that just opened a few blocks from me. It's a Turkish restaurant. Great food, great service, good prices. She asked me what Turkish meant. Shocked, I told her that it means it is from the country of Turkey. She laughed at me, thinking I was joking. Nobody would name their country Turkey, that's silly.
She graduated High School last year, and just completed her first year of college, working towards her teaching credentials. Now somebody please tell me that the public education system is working.
Are you serious? This is horrible. Again not sending my kids to public school. She needs a mentor. She cannot be a teacher no way.
Of course she can be a teacher. She's being indoctrinated into liberal beliefs every day at school, just like she's supposed to be. She MAY be disqualified if she ever starts to listen to me, though.