Our school board has tough decisions to make, these days, in considering proposed capital improvements to our schools.
On the one hand, the board must make sure that every child in this school district, no matter what schools they attend, has the same educational opportunities. That must be paramount. Similarly, the board must make sure that divisions between schools do not reinforce or aggravate other existing divisions in this community -- e.g., between rich and poor, white and black, city and township, Columbus and Pickerington. Our schools should bring us all together, not set us apart.
On the other hand, the board must be fiscally responsible. The financial resources that we voters are willing to commit to our schools are limited, and we are increasingly unwilling to tolerate extravagance or waste. We depend on the board to exercise strong oversight over the administration and faculty, and to make sure that every one of our dollars is spent wisely.
Thus the board cannot fund everything that is proposed, and must set careful priorities. The board must carefully balance these and hosts of other important considerations in every capital improvement decision they make. And the board must make these decisions for itself, and not be led by the nose by the administrators the board employs.
Unfortunately, in my experience, the board has seldom lived up to this responsibility. For too long, the board functioned more as a booster club than as the governing body of the school district, even though the PLSD has a larger annual budget than the city and the township combined, and accounts for nearly all of the real estate taxes we pay. As I have said before, I once actually watched, in shock and outrage, as the school board actually approved, at a ''special meeting,'' an annual budget that we board members had not even seen.
PHS North and Ridgeview JHS are the result. Clearly the board let the administration, faculty, architects and construction manager run amok in the design and construction of these two facilities. The board never even voted to approve their design. The then-school board majority kept the matter from even coming to a vote, knowing the vote would have been 3-2.
However, the board's recent decision not to widen the PHS Central track to eight lanes, I think, shows signs that the board may finally be turning the corner. The board deliberated carefully on the decision; board members made up their own minds; and, I believe, the board struck the proper, and rational, balance.
The lack of an eighth lane at PHS Central does not reduce the educational, or even athletic, opportunities available to PHS Central students one bit. In the next decade, there may be a track meet or two that PHS Central will be unable to host due to the lack of an eighth lane, but we have so many greater problems to address. We simply cannot afford to spend $400,000 on this one.
I therefore applaud the school board's decision. The board is starting to show the level of fiscal responsibility that we voters expect, and can support at the polls.
On the one hand, the board must make sure that every child in this school district, no matter what schools they attend, has the same educational opportunities. That must be paramount. Similarly, the board must make sure that divisions between schools do not reinforce or aggravate other existing divisions in this community -- e.g., between rich and poor, white and black, city and township, Columbus and Pickerington. Our schools should bring us all together, not set us apart.
On the other hand, the board must be fiscally responsible. The financial resources that we voters are willing to commit to our schools are limited, and we are increasingly unwilling to tolerate extravagance or waste. We depend on the board to exercise strong oversight over the administration and faculty, and to make sure that every one of our dollars is spent wisely.
Thus the board cannot fund everything that is proposed, and must set careful priorities. The board must carefully balance these and hosts of other important considerations in every capital improvement decision they make. And the board must make these decisions for itself, and not be led by the nose by the administrators the board employs.
Unfortunately, in my experience, the board has seldom lived up to this responsibility. For too long, the board functioned more as a booster club than as the governing body of the school district, even though the PLSD has a larger annual budget than the city and the township combined, and accounts for nearly all of the real estate taxes we pay. As I have said before, I once actually watched, in shock and outrage, as the school board actually approved, at a ''special meeting,'' an annual budget that we board members had not even seen.
PHS North and Ridgeview JHS are the result. Clearly the board let the administration, faculty, architects and construction manager run amok in the design and construction of these two facilities. The board never even voted to approve their design. The then-school board majority kept the matter from even coming to a vote, knowing the vote would have been 3-2.
However, the board's recent decision not to widen the PHS Central track to eight lanes, I think, shows signs that the board may finally be turning the corner. The board deliberated carefully on the decision; board members made up their own minds; and, I believe, the board struck the proper, and rational, balance.
The lack of an eighth lane at PHS Central does not reduce the educational, or even athletic, opportunities available to PHS Central students one bit. In the next decade, there may be a track meet or two that PHS Central will be unable to host due to the lack of an eighth lane, but we have so many greater problems to address. We simply cannot afford to spend $400,000 on this one.
I therefore applaud the school board's decision. The board is starting to show the level of fiscal responsibility that we voters expect, and can support at the polls.
