The High Cost Of Not Educating Kids
Welcome to the most expensive school in U.S. history -- of course, part of the broke-ass LAUSD. Allysia Finley writes for the WSJ:
At $578 million--or about $140,000 per student--the 24-acre Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex in mid-Wilshire is the most expensive school ever constructed in U.S. history. To put the price in context, this city's Staples sports and entertainment center cost $375 million. To put it in a more important context, the school district is currently running a $640 million deficit and has had to lay off 3,000 teachers in the last two years. It also has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country and some of the worst test scores.The K-12 complex isn't merely an overwrought paean to the nation's most celebrated liberal political family. It's a jarring reminder that money doesn't guarantee success--though it certainly beautifies failure.
...Talking benches--$54,000--play a three-hour audio of the site's history. Murals and other public art cost $1.3 million. A minipark facing a bustling Wilshire Boulevard? $4.9 million.
The Kennedy complex is Exhibit A in the district's profligate 131-school building binge. Exhibit B is the district's Visual and Performing Arts High School, which was originally budgeted at $70 million but was later upgraded into a sci-fi architectural masterpiece that cost $232 million.
Even more striking is Exhibit C, the Edward Roybal Learning Center in the Westlake area, which was budgeted at $110 million until costs skyrocketed midway through construction when contractors discovered underground methane gas and a fault line. Eventual cost: $377 million.
Mr. Rubin admits that the Roybal Center project was "a tremendous screw-up" that "should have been studied closer beforehand." The project was abandoned for several years, only to be recommenced when community activists demanded that the school be built at whatever cost necessary in order to show respect for the neighborhood's Latino children, many of whom were attending an overcrowded Belmont High School.
The Roybal center now ranks in the bottom third of schools with similar demographics on state tests, while Belmont High ranks in the top third. But even though many Roybal kids can't read or do math, at least they have a dance studio with cushioned maple floors and a kitchen with a restaurant-quality pizza oven.
Expect more such over-the-top and inefficient building projects in the future. Los Angeles voters have approved over $20 billion of bonds since 1997 and state voters have chipped in another $4.4 billion of matching funds. Roughly a third of the cost of the Kennedy complex will be shouldered by state taxpayers.
Friends, voters, morons...this would be a most excellent time to wake the hell up: When you vote in a bond issue, the money to pay for it doesn't come from leprechauns. Really.
Oh, did I mention that my neighbor started a library in her son's charter school? With donated books and shelves. She donates her time as librarian, and other parents pitch in.
Tragically, the benches there are wooden and remain mute. But, the kids are learning.
Tragically, the benches there are wooden and remain moot. But, the kids are learning.
Do you mean "mute"? as in silent or not able to speak?
"moot" is appropriate for academic discussion or debate but of no practical value; no longer relevant to the case at hand; not decidable from the available evidence -- I doubt it was ancient English chieftain.
I suspect it is something similar to what happened around here. New buildings being paid for by bonds, etc. while teachers are being laid off. The money from the bonds cannot legal be used for anything but the building of new school grounds. There was a similar issue with a park - a bond or levy was approved to buy land and turn it into a park -- yet existing parks are having to be closed because of lack of funding.
The Former Banker at September 4, 2010 12:49 AM
This is very strange.
I'm all for spending money on schools... but talking benches? Is the school in an area that would attract lots of tourist dollars? Why do they need so much money for a k-12 sports center, are they going to be hosting rock concerts there as school fundraisers?
I think schools should be pretty, well landscaped, and agreeable to be in, but I'm not sure they need to speak to me in any other than a metaphorical way.
How long are they expecting this school to last? I hope it is well built and can withstand earthquakes, and will last the city a good 75 years minimum.
NicoleK at September 4, 2010 3:10 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/09/04/the_high_cost_o_2.html#comment-1750133">comment from The Former BankerTragically, the benches there are wooden and remain moot.
Thanks - I did. Will change that. I'm really exhausted lately - working day and night to get my next book in proposal and chapter form because my agent is moving in October and will be out then. Want her to sell it in September.
Amy Alkon at September 4, 2010 7:30 AM
How about this for use of taxpayer funds- buying a convicted serial torturer, raper, and killer of children a $2,800 laptop computer to assist in his own defense, even though he currently has 4 death sentences! Imagine the information he can tap via the internet and the communications he may be able to send out!
I run a database services business, and my laptop cost $499 and does a stellar job for anything I need.
http://www.krem.com/news/local/California-murder-trial-for-Joseph-Duncan-delayed-one-year-102184204.html
Eric at September 4, 2010 8:46 AM
For an example of the low cost of educating kids and having outstanding sports teams, check out Junipero Serra High School in Gardena. I think the buildings are the same as when I graduated in 1963. Sucks that it was all boys in my day!
Dave B at September 4, 2010 10:22 AM
There is some cognitive dissociation going on when Californians vote for those bond issues. They always seem to think that someone else will pay for it and that the money will not ultimately come from their own wallets.
Tony at September 4, 2010 1:24 PM
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