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EDITORIAL: Classroom Cuts: The Wake County School Board Shouldn't Nickel-and-Dime Critical Spaces in Schools. It Needs to Make the Case for Investment

Posted on: Thursday, 13 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Apr. 13--Overcrowding in the Wake County schools is a serious matter. Thousands of Wake parents with youngsters in school understand that fact. But single people and the elderly and business folks whose kids may have long ago left the public schools have reason to worry about the situation as well.

Wake County's economic and cultural future is tied in many respects to maintaining the schools' stellar academic reputation. That means providing adequate resources for youngsters to learn, including adequate space. Anyone who doesn't comprehend that Wake's relentless growth is swamping the school system's ability to accommodate -- and thus to educate effectively -- all of its pupils deserves a dunce cap and a corner seat.

Voters need the hard facts presented in a clear fashion if they are to be persuaded to pass a substantial bond referendum to build new schools. A poll last month commissioned by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce suggests little enthusiasm for three hypothetical bonds, ranging from $1.3 billion to $1.9 billion. In reaction to the poll and mindful that a $650 million bond issue was rejected in 1999, Wake school board members now have voted to downsize and cut back as new schools are built.

The idea would be to shave some costs off a bond scheduled to be voted on in November. New elementary and middle schools would have smaller classrooms and science rooms than originally designed, and in middle schools the rooms for special ed and arts classes (including music) would be trimmed.

The cuts aren't all drastic. But they would render some of the spaces smaller than recommended by the state Department of Public Instruction. Restrooms would be scaled back, too, as would lobbies and mechanical rooms. In addition, the two new high schools serving Wake Forest would be built without football stadiums.

Administrators will put the changes in a revised bond proposal scheduled to be presented to the school board for approval today. At the same time, they will recommend how many schools should be converted to the year-round schedule -- also as an economy move, since year-rounds can handle more students. The guideline there needs to be offering families as much choice as possible.

On the construction side of the debate, forgoing the sports facilities, even if it departs from the custom of providing high schools with their own stadiums, looks like a reasonable sacrifice. That's especially so if the funds could be raised to build a regional stadium that both the new high schools would use.

There should be no skimping, however, on classrooms, restrooms and other spaces that a school needs to function properly. They make a school habitable and thus are critical to the academic mission. Schools' basic learning and living spaces should be the last target for spending cuts.

The schools, of course, wouldn't be facing as big a space crunch had voters taken the long view in 1999. A smaller, compromise bond issue eventually was approved, but the building program it has financed was destined to be inadequate.

Meanwhile, construction costs rise every year that work is postponed, and Wake County's growth isn't projected to slow anytime soon. The school board always should be looking for cost efficiencies. But that shouldn't stop it from planning for an adequate bond issue and then focusing its energy on making the case.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The News & Observer

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