Text 4750, 58 rader
Skriven 2007-07-27 05:12:38 av Bob Ackley (1:2905/3)
   Kommentar till text 4739 av Dan Ceppa (1:138/666.0)
Ärende: GOVERNMENT SCHOOL FOR MUS
=================================
Replying to a message of Dan Ceppa to John Massey:

 JM>> group you care to have. It's clear to me Government Schools are not
 JM>> working, and it doesn't seem to be from a lack of money. Competition
 JM>> in education would be a good thing. 

 DC> It's not a matter of competition.  It's a matter of proper funding.  

No.  It's a matter of management, not funding.  Washington DC has arguably
the worst public school system in the country, and it is among the highest
in spending dollars per pupil.

For 27 years I lived in Plattsmouth, Nebraska.  In the late 1970s the school
system built a brand new building for the high school.  The district management
allowed that building and the older ones used by the elementary schools to
deterioriate to the point where the older ones were condemned.  THEN they
hit up the taxpayers for a new high school so they could consolidate the
elementary
students in the 1970s vintage building after the required repairs and
remodeling
of that building were complete (and note that the bond issue for that 1970s HS
building had not yet been paid off).

The caliber of education provided to the students of that city was exemplified
by
a letter purportedly written by a HS junior at the time - 'if the taxpayers
don't pass
this bond issue (for the new new HS) I'll drop out of school,' never mind that
the
idiot would graduate long before the new building was completed.  And note that
since the local paper supported the new new HS, it was impossible to get an
opinion letter printed that expressed opposition to the issue.  Despite the
effective
muzzling of opposing views, the bond issue only just barely passed the voters.

-----

Note also that in Plattsmouth the city/county started construction of a new
jail
complex months before they put the idea before the voters to get the funding
for
it approved.  Again, despite the effective muzzling of any opposing views, that
bond issue just barely passed too.  It would've been a hoot if the voters had
shot
it down, too - because they'd already spent a LOT of money acquiring property,
demolishing existing buildings and having the blueprints for the new jail (now
known as a "Law Enforcement Center") made.

Also note that one of the buildings taken for the new jail was an apartment
house
that was about to be condemned by the city as uninhabitable.  Rather than make
any
necessary repairs the owner foisted it off on the county - no doubt at the full
market
value of a new building on the site.  A really sweet deal for that guy.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:2905/3)