Monday, March 07, 2005
Editorial: Make a decision about Bedford schools
The prolonged debate is rooted in Virginia's ineffective way of financing education.
From the RoundTable blog
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The protracted debate and indecision over school construction in Bedford County need to come to an end. The continuing division between the school board and the board of supervisors over how to proceed undermines the ability of the two bodies to work together for the common good of Bedford County's schoolchildren.
The contention continued in a meeting late last week when school officials made a pitch for building two schools simultaneously to address student crowding.
But in making their case to supervisors, who control the construction dollars, school authorities failed to inspire public confidence in their requests.
Supervisors were justifiably skeptical of educators' cost estimates, as well as the accuracy of attendance figures school officials touted as the basis for needing two buildings.
School administrators had estimated the two schools would cost $75 million. But during last week's meeting, the price tag jumped to $81.5 million.
Additionally, school officials previously had said they needed an 800-student-capacity school to replace Jefferson Forest High School. By last week, the number had grown to 1,000.
"There's so many things that do just not add up," said Supervisor Steve Arrington of Big Island district. "Is it 800 or is it 1,000?"
Last week's confusion highlighted school officials' failure to provide sound numbers on which to make multimillion-dollar decisions on projects that will affect education in Bedford County for a long time.
But more broadly, the ongoing debate points up the ineffective method by which Virginia finances public education - with school boards given the responsibility to spend the money, but not the authority to levy the taxes that generate it.
Unfortunately, that's not likely to change soon. In the meantime, Bedford officials need to come together to address growing educational needs of a diverse population.
