$578 million for a school, and layoffs for teachers
The hubris of the American education establishment is on full display at the new Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles, price tag: $578 million.
It’s not just the pensions that are gold-plated in today’s schools. Read this description of the new school from an article by the Associated Press:
At RFK, the features include fine art murals and a marble memorial depicting the complex’s namesake, a manicured public park, a state-of-the-art swimming pool and preservation of pieces of the original hotel [at the site where the school was built].
Partly by circumstance and partly by design, the Los Angeles Unified School District has emerged as the mogul of Taj Mahals.
The RFK complex follows on the heels of two other LA schools among the nation’s costliest — the $377 million Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, which opened in 2008, and the $232 million Visual and Performing Arts High School that debuted in 2009.
(snip)
Los Angeles is not alone, however, in building big. Some of the most expensive schools are found in low-performing districts — New York City has a $235 million campus; New Brunswick, N.J., opened a $185 million high school in January.
Nationwide, dozens of schools have surpassed $100 million with amenities including atriums, orchestra-pit auditoriums, food courts, even bamboo nooks. The extravagance has led some to wonder where the line should be drawn and whether more money should be spent on teachers.
The Roybal school, mentioned above, “grew to encompass a dance studio with cushioned maple floors, a modern kitchen with a restaurant-quality pizza oven, a 10-acre park and teacher planning rooms between classrooms.” But the real kicker for the Los Angeles school district comes in the paragraph I snipped above, which I now present:
The pricey schools have come during a sensitive period for the nation’s second-largest school system: Nearly 3,000 teachers have been laid off over the past two years, the academic year and programs have been slashed. The district also faces a $640 million shortfall and some schools persistently rank among the nation’s lowest performing.
Meanwhile, schools’ complaints about their funding shortfalls led Congress this month to pass a $10 billion “EduJobs” bailout. Twelve percent of the money, or $1.2 billion, went to none other than the state of California, Frederick Hess notes at National Review Online.
Spending has been rising on more than construction, Hess reports:
[The] National Center for Education Statistics, for instance, reports that, nationally, current K–12 per-pupil expenditures increased from 2003–04 to 2006–2007 (the most recent school year for which the NCES reports spending) by 17 percent — from $8,310 to $9,683. Indeed NCES data make clear that the last two years have been the first time in more than a half-century that per-pupil spending has declined from the year before. And even in the past two years, job losses in K–12 education have been much more modest than in the private sector. It’s befuddling that [Education Secretary Arne] Duncan is making excuses for officials bemoaning their twice-a-century belt tightening, rather than encouraging them to take a hard look at benefits, staffing, operations, and management.
Duncan, who singled out for praise the $1.2 billion that EduJobs is funneling to California, also might want to consider the recent Pepperdine study of 52 California school districts. This study reported that spending rose 21.9 percent from 2003–04 to 2008–09, outpacing both state income growth and inflation. On a per-pupil basis, spending actually jumped 25.8 percent over that period, while classroom spending as a share of total outlays declined from 59 percent to 57.8 percent. Where did the money go? Pay rose by 28 percent for certificated supervisors and administrators and by 44 percent for classified supervisors and administrators.
I’ve written before that inflation-adjusted, per-pupil spending has been climbing in Georgia as well, with little to show for it in the way of performance improvements. The sad thing is that too few teachers seem to have realized that their bosses are their biggest enemies.
Majestic new campuses, bloated administrative payrolls — when school systems have cut out this sort of waste, we’ll talk about whether more money would truly serve our students well.
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103 comments Add your comment
Richard
August 23rd, 2010
12:10 pm
Kyle,
If you want to get rid of waste in public education, why not first call for eliminating spending on high school athletics? How many millions of dollars there?
Linda
August 23rd, 2010
12:12 pm
Schools without teachers…
Belinda
August 23rd, 2010
12:17 pm
Unbelieveable. And we wonder why our economy and education system is a mess? Teachers do need to look at things more closely.
godless heathen
August 23rd, 2010
12:22 pm
Back in the day, a high school could be built on a city block. Now they require over 40 acres, some much more. And we see an improved outcome. Consider not only the construction cost, but the cost of maintenance. Oh well, it’s government spend OPM.
godless heathen
August 23rd, 2010
12:23 pm
I meant to say “no improved outcome.”
Jefferson
August 23rd, 2010
12:23 pm
Not much different that when your city council, board of education, or county commissioners eat out at a fancy resteraunt and the tab comes to $1500, they just lay out $300 for the tip.
Question Authority
August 23rd, 2010
12:31 pm
And those who call for the peaceful dismantling of government are called wackos?
Governments only cause Depressions. They are never subjected to the misery. Their wasteful spending goes on and on. Funny how easy it is for some to spend other people’s money.
The answer of course is to end all government involvement in education and let parents be responsible for their childrens’ education along with the assistance of anyone who is interested in assisting financially or otherwise through a voluntary manner.
Accountability only happens when you control the purse strings.
Brian
August 23rd, 2010
12:33 pm
You are so right. All of that money could go towards more bombs and tanks, or maybe a bank or another AIG bailout…and there is even worthier sources besides a new state of the art school in the nation’s 2nd largest school system. And of course we know that the system was thriving over the past 30 years without this bloating. Are you kidding? At our elementary school here we regularly doled out for paper, pencils and at fundraisers raised money for TA’s and upgraded libraries. Sure there is waste in education. But up to now we always talked about how education (the administrators, the teachers, the facilities) was neglected and underfunded and underperforming. Even the last President who would have cut off his arm before he actually thought to advance anyone in a family earning less than 200k had education as priority (No kid left behind). Worry more about how to inspire and educate what we have and maybe minds will grow to get out of this morass we are in today.
Fun Guy
August 23rd, 2010
12:38 pm
Does not surprise me . Seems almost all people in California have no clue. Home of Nancy Pelosi
Mrs. Norris
August 23rd, 2010
12:39 pm
Well, the children will have fine buildings in which to teach themselves; and tax payers are once again asked to fund and subsidize bad policy. And some sneer at the Tea Party. Keep sneering. I also appreciate what you said about teachers not realizing who their real enemy is. While they are on a witch hunt for Roy Barnes because he tried to improve our educational system, the real enemy will continue to erode the system.
Ivan
August 23rd, 2010
12:51 pm
Don’t worry folks. The U.S taxpayer will “bailout” California before you know it.
DawgDad
August 23rd, 2010
1:06 pm
None of this has anything at all to do with educating kids, unless we’re paying to teach them to grift off taxpayers. Either way, it will be a cold day in [wherever] before I ever vote for another tax increase for ANYTHING.
Joe Wolf
August 23rd, 2010
1:06 pm
You do realize that the pots of money for building schools and operating them are *entirely* separate, and that by law L.A. Unified cannot use school construction money for any other purpose?
If you want to have a debate about funding priorities in education, fair enough, But please, do your homework and give your readers the full context along with your opinions. Don’t do a Fox News on them.
The Anti-Wooten
August 23rd, 2010
1:09 pm
Kyle,
It’s so rare that I agree with you that it’s worthy of note. While school building should not have the appearance of a state prison they also don’t need something with all of the architectural flourishes that are included here. The school board could have built something much more utilitarian and functionally sound for far, far less money and kept many more teachers on the payroll.
DawgDad
August 23rd, 2010
1:10 pm
Joe: Your point doesn’t even matter. Waste is waste. It’s not about educating kids, it’s about adults playing with other people’s money.
joe
August 23rd, 2010
1:13 pm
Nice pricetag for a place where gang bangers and illegals will “tag” their hang outs with their favorite colors in spray paint. The building depreciates as soon as the students step one foot into the door. Figures that anything government oriented, in this case the public school system, makes another bone head decision. Schools where I went were plain, ugly barely efficient buildings, but somehow we got by because we had good teachers and administrators. Now you have corrupt teachers unions and on the take officials running the schools into the ground…and they turn out graduates who can barely read or write. Our country is headed straight into the toilet and the liberals are the enablers for most of that.
CJ
August 23rd, 2010
1:16 pm
“The hubris of the American education establishment…”
Thus begins Kyle’s weekly assault on public education. As a faux-conservative columnist, he skillfully applies the following tactics from “The Demagogue’s Handbook”:
1. Tactic 143: Treat the exception as the rule.
2. Tactic 17: Maximize the negative; ignore the positive.
3. Tactic 94: Whether or not applicable, use explosive, focus-group tested words (e.g., bailout).
4. Tactic 101: Offer a non-sequitor, consistent with your ideology, as the solution.
I agree that any money spent on unnecessary construction, administrators, and benefits are wasteful. Who doesn’t? But if the implication here is that there aren’t private educators who blow their wads on unnecessary architecture and excessive administrative salaries and benefits, thereby leading to ridiculously high tuitions not justified by objective student outcomes, then the evidence is lacking.
Instead of talking about whether more money would serve our students well, as Kyle proposes, shouldn’t we be talking about how to make sure that the money is properly spent in the first place (a conversation we should have whether taxpayer money is applied to public or private education)—upgrading dilapidated facilities, recruiting and hiring the best educators, hiring more teachers to achieve smaller class sizes?
CJ
August 23rd, 2010
1:17 pm
Kyle,
My submission isn’t surviving the automated moderator for some reason (I’ve tried twice). If possible, would you take a look and push it through?
Sorry about the trouble.
Road Scholar
August 23rd, 2010
1:17 pm
Heck , how many trailers will all that money buy here in Georgia?
jd
August 23rd, 2010
1:18 pm
Hmmm… a school or a presidential library *George H.W. Bush Library cost about $500 million — or 7 days of bonuses for Goldman Sachs, or 4 F-35 fighters… so many choices to spend our money!
Jason T
August 23rd, 2010
1:25 pm
Ahhhhhh…Government at it’s finest! California, the land of fruit and nuts.
CJ
August 23rd, 2010
1:33 pm
Thanks!
Kyle Wingfield
August 23rd, 2010
1:41 pm
Joe Wolf: But where do both pots of money come from? Taxpayers. The pot for construction may have grown at the other pot’s expense, but taxpayers still have only so much money they can pay out. And ironically, the reason those pots are divided that way — at least in Georgia with SPLOSTs; I don’t know all the ins and outs of L.A. school-funding policy — is because the public didn’t trust school officials to spend construction money appropriately.
CJ, I think you’re so eager to criticize me that you don’t realize you’re agreeing with me…”talking about how to make sure that the money is properly spent in the first place” is exactly what I’ve proposed.
Aquagirl
August 23rd, 2010
1:46 pm
Developers are always first at the trough. Thank goodness we don’t have to worry about such things in Georgia! Oh, um, wait…..
wallbanger
August 23rd, 2010
1:47 pm
I am just guessing that the construction trades unions in Southern California are louder/stronger than the teacher’s unions. Sounds to me like a lot of padding went on here. No doubt graft was involved–just like the construction at Hartsfield. Hard to find honest people anymore. I got a great education–all 12 years in a 3 story red brick schoolhouse–nothing fancy. Dedicated teachers, and kids who knew if they acted out in school they would be killed when they got home.
Charles
August 23rd, 2010
1:57 pm
Now that we’ve all trashed APS – and rightfully so – it would be great if someone – anyone – on the editorial board would report in a meaningful way on the recent ACT and SAT scores in Georgia. The news is good – just hasn’t been reported.
Other than the simple sound bite “Ga schools rank at the bottom” here is ‘the rest of the story’.
Black student scores above the national average when compared to black students nationwide.
Hispanic student scores above the national average when compared to Hispanic students nationwide.
And finally, White student scores above the national average when compared to white students nationwide.
You would also be surprised when you look at the top 10% of students in private schools compared to the top 10% of students in public schools.
This type of news would take a little more digging than the bad news – but it would speak volumes about why Georgia is a great place for a business to locate…
Retired administrator for public schools – where ALL students can attend…
CJ
August 23rd, 2010
1:57 pm
Maybe so, Kyle. But again, you seem to be implying that such waste is the rule and not the exception. That federal education money isn’t saving teachers jobs, properly upgrading poorly maintained school buildings, or preventing class sizes from growing larger than they otherwise would—at all. That if some money on a project is wasted, which happens in nearly every significant public or private endeavor, then it’s not worth doing.
jd
August 23rd, 2010
2:01 pm
Sounds like Kyle supports Roy Barnes’ Reform plan — give the school systems 4 designs to choose from if they want state bonded construction monies — just think how many buildings could have gone up with the money spent on Milton High School (that be in North Fulton, errr, Milton County)
StJ
August 23rd, 2010
2:01 pm
Did ol’ Nancy have a hand in the construction of that school? Maybe she can move her office there and save us taxpayers $18,000 a month.
Rafe Hollister
August 23rd, 2010
2:21 pm
Limosine Liberals have to come from somewhere!!
It is typical liberal philosophy, to brainwash the kids into believing Global warming, income redistribution, carbon footprints, etc, but do not make them suffer, because of any of those beliefs. Live large and spare no expense, but preach about sacrifice and dedication to the environment and those in society who are suffering.
DEWSTARPATH
August 23rd, 2010
2:24 pm
Fun Guy – August 23rd, 2010 – 12:38 pm
“Seems almost all people in California have no clue. Home of Nancy Pelosi”
– All people in a state have no clue because of one person.
What happened to common sense ?
Horrible Horace
August 23rd, 2010
2:28 pm
2010 Robert F. Kennedy Community School (cost-578 million dollars/multiple schools)”
The name of the above mentioned school should be changed. Sirhan Sirhan Community School would be more fitting. The kennedys were a group of drunken frat boys and crooks.
Rafe Hollister
August 23rd, 2010
2:29 pm
CJ:
That if some money on a project is wasted, which happens in nearly every significant public or private endeavor, then it’s not worth doing.
It should read, Since most Gov projects contain a great deal of money wasted needlessly, it would be better to give the money directly to those who you are trying to help and leave the Gov out of the project.
Kind of like, if the Gov had just split the 1 Trillion dollar Stimulus bill among the taxpayers in the form of a tax cut, then the economy would be booming, with people buying TV’s, stereos, tires, cars, furniture, etc.
Skip
August 23rd, 2010
2:39 pm
You had to go all the way to California to find waste?
Linda
August 23rd, 2010
2:40 pm
Statement from the LA Unified School District, “The construction of these schools was funded by bond money the voters approved to build new schools to relieve SEROUS overcrowding in schools…By law, these funds could not be used to fund teacher salaries or to back fill budget shortfalls currently being experienced by the District…& ITS meets the Board goal of relieving overcrowding in all our schools.”
This is their spelling & words, not mine.
Linda
August 23rd, 2010
2:44 pm
The LAUSD spent $232 M & $377 M on 2 other schools in the last 3 yrs. They’ve laid off 3000 teachers in the last 2 yrs. They have a $640 M budget deficit, some of the lowest performing schools in the country & a 27% drop-out rate.
No More Progressives!
August 23rd, 2010
2:57 pm
Linda
August 23rd, 2010
2:44 pm
The LAUSD spent $232 M & $377 M on 2 other schools in the last 3 yrs. They’ve laid off 3000 teachers in the last 2 yrs. They have a $640 M budget deficit, some of the lowest performing schools in the country & a 27% drop-out rate.
Excellent point, Linda.
I wonder how LA compares with Detroit, New Orleans or Chicago, more bastions of liberal management philosophy? What is Atlanta’s drop-out rate?
Not So Casual Observer
August 23rd, 2010
3:01 pm
CJ,
Your comments are nothing more than the standard Liberal clap-trap. You, and those with whom you agree, are a scourge on the United States.
Your “Handbook” entires at 1:16pm are nothing more than the Socialist Guide to Destruction of the United States. Democrats and Liberals have been demoninzing the Right as anti-education, anti-Social Security and anti-minorities for the last 50+ years and yet when the Libs have the Congress and the WH all they accomplish is the fiancial destruction of the economy and a crushing blow to the hopes and dreams of those born since 1990. Liberals have destryed education, Social Security and virtually everything they touch – including the American family.
There are “lies” and there are “damn lies” and Liberals such as CJ are accomplished at both when pandering to an uneducated, underpriviledged group of voters whom the Liberals themselves have created by their social policies.
We can only “hope” the American public has awakened to the charade that has become the Democrat party and Liberalism.
I have asked before and I will try again, “Can anyone find any redeeming value in a Liberal”? So far there has been nothing.
Not So Casual Observer
August 23rd, 2010
3:07 pm
CJ @ 1:57,
One more thing – WASTE IS THE RULE rather than the exception anytime government is involved.
The current administration is so busy lining the pockets of their supporters there will likely be nothing remaining regardless of a rise in tax rates.
Republicans appear as pikers when compared to this band of theives in Congress and the White House.
CJ
August 23rd, 2010
3:10 pm
NSCO: “Democrats and Liberals have been demonizing the Right as anti-education, anti-Social Security and anti-minorities for the last 50+ years…”
It’s not demonizing if it’s true; it’s just reporting.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the fact-free, substance-free rant. Thanks for the laugh.
retired early
August 23rd, 2010
3:12 pm
One very obvious solution to school funding…get out of the state/county approach in educational administration. The “other” state employee’s admin is located in Atlanta. The schools have what..150+ separate school bd of eds, personal depts etc. Centralize control. Here in Chatham co, the admin represents nearly half the total budget… that’s crazy; but then, everyone wants that LOCAL CONTROL, even though it has resulted in such diverse performance outcomes… mostly of which are bad.
Linda
August 23rd, 2010
3:22 pm
No More @ 2:57, Dropping out of school is not always as bad as social promotion. We sat alphabetically in high school. For yrs. I sat next to a girl in many classes & observed the 30s, 40s & 50s she earned on most of her papers. She followed me in the graduation line.
The next time I saw her, she told me that she had graduated from a college in South Georgia & was a teacher.
Wonder what school district(s) she taught in. Wonder what our school district taught her.
DawgDad
August 23rd, 2010
3:34 pm
“get out of the state/county approach in educational administration. . .Centralize control.”
Oh my gosh, the ultimate in wrong-headed liberal proposals. Just for fun here, compare Cherokee County schools to APS and tell me why anyone in Cherokee or any other outlying county would EVER be in favor of central control? PLEASE do NOT vote. We don’t need more nuts in the voting booths.
If Chatham County has a problem managing their school budget then (1) the Chatham County voters need to fix it, or (2) if there is corruption the criminality needs to be investigated and prosecuted. I believe in accountability at the ballot box; Atlanta and Chatham get what they are willing to accept; Cherokee voters had a problem Board member about 10 years ago who got the District decertified and swiftly took care of the issue. The voters in Atlanta collectively [not individually] don’t care about educating their kids to the same extent the Cherokee voters do. Simple to understand. If we centralize control the Beverly Halls of the world will destroy us, too.
josef nix
August 23rd, 2010
3:39 pm
KYLE
” The sad thing is that too few teachers seem to have realized that their bosses are their biggest enemies.”
Well, I certainly resr my case that no one knows the first thing about what is going on in the schools. You obviously haven’t been hanging around the teachers’ lounge at that 26 minute lunch.
Last Word
August 23rd, 2010
3:53 pm
These commercial construction contracts were all entered into in the heady, revenue rich days of the middle of the decade.
Governments across the country all spent like drunken sailors during this period.
And we wonder why we’re broke now that we’ve had a revenue correction? ! !
Last Word
August 23rd, 2010
3:57 pm
Case in point:
The GA DOT!
Jefferson
August 23rd, 2010
4:11 pm
Don’t call grease and kickbacks waste.
DEWSTARPATH
August 23rd, 2010
4:43 pm
Kyle: “Some of the most expensive schools are found
in low-performing districts — New York City has a $235 million
campus; New Brunswick, N.J., opened a $185 million
high school in January.”
– I grew up in New Bruswick (back in the late 70’s). It’s one of the more affluent
areas of Jersey, probably because it’s a college town. As far as being a “low-
performing district” – the NJ DOE in 1975 implemented the District Factor Group
(DFG) system to make statewide assessments of school districts, similar to the
CRCT system in Georgia.
According to Wiki, the NJ system does not “have a primary or significant
influence in the school funding formula beyond legal requirements associated with
parity aid provided to Abbott districts” (the result of a judgement for the Education
Law Center in 1985, Abbott v. Burke, involving an assertion that primary
and secondary education in poor communities was substandard.).
The cost of a new school, therefore, would be an issue of community standards,
e.g. property values, instead of academic standards – not suggesting that represents
what the priorities should be. Students and their education should ALWAYS take
precedence over construction projects.
Chris C.
August 23rd, 2010
4:54 pm
Administrators in general love big, expensive construction projects and this case is no exception. Many of those projects are financed via bonds paid for either at the city or state level and so require little immediate cash upfront, just another chip away at the credit rating for the sponsoring government. Administrators also get to emblazon their names on these monuments to their own egos and use them to sound like they’re actually getting things done when in reality, as Kyle points out, they’re laying off teachers (and usually it’s the young, competent, enthusiastic teachers who get the axe, not the lazy, incompetent, union-controlled deadwood).
The immediate solution is simple: get rid of 50% of administrators (whose numbers have been exploding over the past few decades compared to actual teachers- I guarantee you there won’t be any dropoff in quality/performance in schools by firing administrators) and make the ones who are left dependent on one-year renewable contracts. The contracts should be renewed only after public feedback and hearings every year to review their performance. Outrages like this school wouldn’t even be caught unless people in the media decide to inform their audiences of the cost, so it’s up to parents and taxpayers in general need to exercise far more oversight of school budgets and speak out before these egoistic monstrosities ever get off the ground.
shannon
August 23rd, 2010
5:04 pm
So our school district also in California tells us that California is broke so we have to pay 300.00 for our children to ride the school bus. However they can spend 578 freakin million dollars to build a damn school in LA. They should have put that damn money back into the school system!!!!!!!!
Linda
August 23rd, 2010
5:18 pm
This is how liberals, progressives, Democrats & radicals poison public education.
Since before Obama was elected, he has been recruiting both high school & college kids to join his
Saul Alinsky-inspired private army to (his adm.’s words) “build on the movement that elected Pres. O by empowering students across the country to help us bring about our agenda”…national socialism.
If you think this is a hoax, go to
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/fellowsapp
You can tell from this video of Obama that he made it prior to his being elected in ‘08. Then check out the Atlas Shrugs 1/30/10 article by Pamela Geller:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/01/atlas-exclusive-obama-organizing-for-communism-and-youth-corps-in-the-public-shcool-1.html
The first page of the application states that it was for the winter of 2010. He has been poisoning our public school system for at least 2 years by replacing academic learning & achievement with radical leftist activism. This is indoctrination & manipulation. If you think this is only for college students, note that the 1st page of the application asks if the student is in high school or college.
Check out his recommended reading list which includes:
Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,”
Rinku Sen’s “Stir It Up: Lessons for Community Organizing & Advocacy,” etc.
The application required a 12-hr./wk, 10 wk. commitment but the web-site required 30 hrs. per wk. The application was geared toward the ‘10 elections.
This is way past propaganda, brainwashing & corruption!
Wisconsin Builder » Builder Now Daily Blog » New school is dream come true for some in construction industry
August 23rd, 2010
5:26 pm
[...] To be fair, there are definitely lots of questions to be raised about a nearly $600 million school built in a district that has laid off thousands in recent years. [...]
Gnarly
August 23rd, 2010
5:28 pm
Is this L.A.’s version of lipstick on a pig?
jess
August 23rd, 2010
5:29 pm
Don’t just sit here anonymously posting on a blog. Call the school directly at (213) 241-0100 to voice your outrage.
Linda
August 23rd, 2010
5:35 pm
resubmission of website above:
http//atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/01/atlas-exclusive-obama-organizing-for-communism-and-youth-corps-in-the-public-school-1.html
Sorry.
Gnarly
August 23rd, 2010
5:38 pm
Obama’s DoJ is guilty of stereotyping blacks.
AUGUST 23–The Department of Justice is seeking to hire linguists fluent in Ebonics to help monitor, translate, and transcribe the secretly recorded conversations of subjects of narcotics investigations, according to federal records.
A maximum of nine Ebonics experts will work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division, where the linguists, after obtaining a “DEA Sensitive” security clearance, will help investigators decipher the results of “telephonic monitoring of court ordered nonconsensual intercepts, consensual listening devices, and other media”
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/bizarre/justice-department-seeks-ebonics-experts
Linda
August 23rd, 2010
5:38 pm
one more time:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/01/atlas-exclusive-obama-organizing-for-communism-and-youth-corps-in-the-public-school-01.html
Linda
August 23rd, 2010
5:44 pm
One last time:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/01/atlas=exclusive=obama=organizing-for-communism-and-youth-corps-in-the-public-school-1.html
I hate long websites! Please open it!
left wing
August 23rd, 2010
5:51 pm
Gee, I think someone needs to explain why Ronald Reagan hated America?
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2010/08/somebody-needs-to-ask-sean-hannity.html
bob
August 23rd, 2010
6:14 pm
Richard, I could agree on making high school athletes pay for themselves. The problem with that is boys football and maybe basketball could raise the funds through fees, fundraisers and ticket sales to cover the costs. On the other hand, girl’s sports would suffer from the funding cut and run off in seek of a liberal judge .
@@
August 23rd, 2010
6:18 pm
left wing:
Why do you think the Obama administration is coming down so hard on Wikileaks? It’s because they need Pakistan for their upcoming negotiations with the Taliban.
Lawd a mercy! Did you see the prevalence of PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) at your “immoral minority” site? Take a look:
A Tale of Two Babies by Sarah Palin.
I wouldn’t spend too much time there if I were you.
Weirdos abound.
_____________________________________________________________
The RFK Community School?
“Some people see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not?”–RFK
The Taxman Cometh
August 23rd, 2010
6:22 pm
But, but, but, but, but…….IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN!!……see more of you come Jan. 1st
left wing
August 23rd, 2010
6:33 pm
@@ @ 6:18 – So you hate the messanger (immoral majority) but you really can’t argue with the picture, can you? Your hero, President Reagan, inviting the Taliban into the White House.
OMFG! What would your side say if this had been President Clinton (or worse, President Obama)?
Ayn Rant
August 23rd, 2010
6:49 pm
Grand palaces of education are definitely a mistake; community schools within walking distance of homes are far better. The American primary and secondary schools are nothing more or less than day care centers for ages 6-17. The curriculum is missing. The standardized tests are farcical. The measurements against international standards are third-world.
Surely, physical education should be an integral part of a curriculum. It is an opportunity to teach children how to behave in a civilized society, how to play fair when winning or losing, how to take pride in achievements rather than possessions, and how to take care of the body and the appearance.
Linda, you just get confused by reading those old books like “Atlas Shrugged”. The author was a reactionary against Soviet communist practices. Communism is dead, and so is the author. After much trial and error, modern people have found the way: it’s called social democracy. You can see it on display in the prosperous northwestern European countries and Japan. It’s a combination of free enterprise and social responsibility. It works through good times and bad, even in times like now!
@@
August 23rd, 2010
6:49 pm
left wing:
Pick your poison.
Obama IS in favor of negotiations with the Taliban.
As far as hating “immoral majority”….
I was simply pointing out their PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome). You’d think they’d found the holy grail in a baby’s ears. The responses were hilarious. Pretty indicative of the lower mentality that’s drawn to the site. If you wanna claim allegiance with….I say go for it, but I wouldn’t put out a public broadcast.
md
August 23rd, 2010
6:56 pm
CA isn’t 24 billion in the hole for no reason………just par for the course. What sucks is the rest of the country paying for their excess without enjoying the benefits.
saywhat?
August 23rd, 2010
7:14 pm
md- Californians pay more to the federal goverment in taxes than their state receives. It is the traditional Republican-voting states that usually take in more than they contribute, subsidized by traditional Democrat-voting states. But go ahead, never let facts get in the way of good argument.
saywhat?
August 23rd, 2010
7:14 pm
government
md
August 23rd, 2010
7:17 pm
Saywhat,
You are correct – “is” should read “will be” – which is in reference to CA asking for a federal bailout, which is quite documented………
Bill
August 23rd, 2010
7:23 pm
To all of you railing against trying to educate these inner city kids….The over whelming majority of them are good kids w/ lots to contribute; if given the chance. I have no problem whatsoever with the cost of this school. Why is it so many folks don’t see the advantage of giving these underprivileged ones a chance? Don’t you see? If too many of them don’t get the chance, that’s a very bad thing. Iron gates will fall if too many folks grab hold of them. Only so many bullets can be put into a gun at a time. In the long run it is wayyyy cheaper to build the school.
saywhat?
August 23rd, 2010
7:32 pm
Black inner city children learn better in schools with small overcrowded classrooms with peeling paint and collapsing ceilings, garbage strewn hallways, non-functioning plumbing, heat and airconditioning, etc. Environments like that let them know education is to be taken seriously.
If you put them in big spacious classrooms, and on a campus that looks like it exudes quality and success, how are the kids ever going to learn without being distracted by the pleasantness of a professional grade environment?
C
August 23rd, 2010
7:51 pm
Richard, that’s a great idea; then we can have more fat kids…..not a health issue there ;-]. Id rather have healthy kids that are productive, at least that cost US less.
josef nix
August 23rd, 2010
7:52 pm
A school housing 4000? Get real. Why not 10 schools housing 400? This is the problem in a nutshell…why is our school so successful? Because our principal recognizes by name all of our kids…the personal touch is eveything….
Hillbilly Deluxe
August 23rd, 2010
7:53 pm
I’d be curious to know how many students this school will serve but I really can’t comprehend a $578 million dollar school that isn’t a college or university.
JADEN
August 23rd, 2010
7:55 pm
josef——can we talk?
.
August 23rd, 2010
7:59 pm
josef needs to go back to JAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
UNMENTIONABLE.......?
August 23rd, 2010
8:00 pm
.
Larry!! Larry!! Larry!! Larry!!
August 23rd, 2010
8:00 pm
Enter your comments here
@@
August 23rd, 2010
8:15 pm
Hillbilly:
The link says it will house 4,200 students. K thru 12.
Hillbilly Deluxe
August 23rd, 2010
8:31 pm
@@
Thanks for the info. I’d agree with Josef’s comment about building more schools with the money. Reckon a school that big could be to stroke some upper level administrators ego? They’d get to brag about the school being in their district.
Tall
August 23rd, 2010
8:32 pm
We live in Sandy Springs and my son attends Spalding Drive Elementary. Fortunately, my son started the fourth grade with the teacher he had hoped to get. Some of the third graders weren’t so lucky – Spalding forgot to hire a teacher for them.
Legend of Len Barker
August 23rd, 2010
9:28 pm
Josef, at its peak, Collins Hill had 4,100 students. That’s the highest documented number from the GHSA. In 2008, 20 schools had 2,500 or more.
The Georgia Department of Education began waging a battle in the 1980s to close community schools. Some of it is understood. One of our local elementaries closed in 1988 after having spent the last 14 years exclusively in mobile units after an arsonist burned down the school.
Some of it’s had a detrimental affect on the local economies. Some small businesses pretty much had an entire livelihood based on teacher traffic. I shudder to think what will happen to the town of Manor. Ware County closed down its (poorly-funded) magnet school this year, which was housed in a rural community out in the middle of nowhere. The only reason to go to Manor was the school.
md
August 23rd, 2010
10:21 pm
“The link says it will house 4,200 students. K thru 12.”
Should help with gang enrollment – what a great idea putting the wee ones in with the rest of the misfits. High school is bad enough with just teens…………..
left wing
August 23rd, 2010
10:36 pm
@@ @ 6:49 – You wanna talk about “Dan Quayle with the pony tail”? I’m fine with that. That ditz would struggle to name 5 US coins, let alone discuss things like farm subsidies or should we have a weaker US dollar (answer; right now we desperately need that).
I know; Katie Couric “ambushed” her with really tough questions, like “what newspapers do you read?”. Keep drinkin’ that Kool-Aid. Yum!
barking frog
August 24th, 2010
7:07 am
Students are transient, buildings and staff are forever. Guess
where the money will continue to go.
Horrible Horace
August 24th, 2010
7:36 am
Imam Obama goes down in 2012.
Eric
August 24th, 2010
7:49 am
I agree this spending in L.A. is extravagant. Consider another place to cut across many school systems: technology! All these new computers, software, printers, and supplies are updated year-after-year, and for what? Math is still math, whether it’s learned on an overhead projector, dry-erase board, etc.
As for not improving performance, consider too that the educational leaders keep raising the bar: A 1000 SAT score in 1980 was very good, but is considered poor by today’s standards (1200 is now the bar). If kids are achieving 1200, and college enrollment higher than ever, we’re doing very well as a society it would seem.
Why Johnny can't write.....
August 24th, 2010
8:41 am
It’s a shame that the school system that reared our dear Kyle didn’t receive more funding, eh?
But life is nothing more than a series of underfunded and thus missed opportunities.
Bosch
August 24th, 2010
8:44 am
Yes, at face value this seems extreme, but if it’s a place where kids WANT to come to learn, then isn’t that worth it? I agree that with teachers being laid off and the economic crisis in CA, this is a little on the nuts side, but again, our kids today are used to aesthetics as much as anything, and that is everyone’s fault.
Also, you have to look at the individual school system, because money put into the school might have come from different sources, i.e. vendors in the food court (corporate sponsors), did some money come from the Kennedys? I doubt all of that money came directly from taxpayers.
Anyway, yeah, something to ponder, definitely teachers first, but I think this is a bit on the poutrage side of things.
Horrible Horace
August 24th, 2010
8:50 am
“place where kids WANT to come to learn, then isn’t that worth it?”
Dems have not shame. Besides, L A is chock full of lil gang-bangers who only want to vandalize. Go visit the “Robert AHOLE Kennedy Community Internment and Brainwashing Center” in 2 years. It will be trashed.
Bob
August 24th, 2010
8:51 am
Left wing, the newspaper question was tough but 57 states twice in one conversation ? And we are mostly muslim country, another brilliant comment on par with potato. But lets get serious, your man obo said premiums would decrease by 18% and took over healthcare, for now. Isn’t ignorance by those that are actually making decisions what we should be worrying about ? It is fun to pick on Palin but her stool sample has more going for it that the congressional black caucus
Horrible Horace
August 24th, 2010
8:52 am
IF the kids want to learn they will learn and it doesnt take a 500 million dollar facility.
IF the kids do not want to learn then I certainly have no problem with building more prisons. Build them bigger, higher and stronger for these future thiefs, vagrants, rapists, murderers and miscreants.
“Come along son, we have a cell with your number on it”
Bosch
August 24th, 2010
9:09 am
Oh Horace, such faith you have in the youth of today. I’m glad no one gave up on me when I was 16, how about you?
Thurston B. Howell III
August 24th, 2010
10:12 am
I say three cheers for LA!!!!
Well done!!
Not So Casual Observer
August 24th, 2010
10:13 am
CJ,
Your comments are nothing more than a repeat of the same lies the Left has used for those 50+ years. You Lefties seem to believe if you say “it” long enough and loud enough “it” becomes true.
The Democrats eliminated the original “Trust Fund” for Social Security and placed the tax into the general operating fund of the government. The Democrats pushed through the laws breaking the FDR promise for the rate of tax and on and on with the Democrats destroying the idea and practice that was the basis for Social Security. The Left greed killed Social Security and you do not have the stones to admit you lie!
Keep printing your laughable comments – they are nothing but Dem talking points and lies. Socialism is a loser and so is CJ.
Horrible Horace
August 24th, 2010
10:45 am
Much different today. With all these daily environmental, socialistic brainwashing experiments its no wonder these kids drop out. I guess they are due a “Little Bit Of Sympathy”.
Little Bit of Sympathy – Robin Trower.
Dennis
August 24th, 2010
11:32 am
I know this has nothing to do with the topic of discussion, but after scrolling through every comment, I am encouraged that almost all of the comments seem to be thought out and well written. Something you don’t see on many blogs. Either there’s a heck of a lot of moderator editing, or this blog attracts a different class of readers within the blogosphere.
Just an observation.
Dennis
August 24th, 2010
11:41 am
You need to do your homework. Athletics is a very tiny part of the school budget! Coaches get paid a very small stipend like $2000 and most programs get about $500-$1000. So before you say get rid of high school athletics you might want to know what your talking about. This is not college!
Horrible Horace
August 24th, 2010
12:14 pm
Cheerleading should be eliminated.
Linda
August 24th, 2010
12:35 pm
Ayn @ 6:49, It’s been years since I read the book “Atlas Shrugged.” There is now a web site by that name. Communism is not dead. Obama appointed at least one Communist to his adm., Van Jones. “Modern people” are progressives who are afraid to admit who they are which are socialists. Socialism was not “found” by modern people. It’s been around since the 19th century in various forms. There are no prosperous socialist countries. Free enterprise/capitalism & socialism are complete opposites & to not mix. Socialism causes bad times, like now.
Horrible Horace
August 24th, 2010
3:31 pm
I hate socialists.
starrynight
August 24th, 2010
4:16 pm
Shouldn’t taxpayers have the right to vote on this. Over half a billion and so many teachers and people unemployed. Seriously, what’s going on here?
Mario
September 13th, 2010
6:03 pm
Sadly… LA’s graduation rate is still below 70%, and LA’s english literacy rate is still about 25%
So instead of building new ultra expensive school, why not hire teachers that actually care? Oh yeah, I forgot, if LA did then those teachers will be the first to be laid off because all their money is spent building more school and paying off pensions.