News-Record.com

I read most of this report. The most interesting part was that GCS uses 1% inflation monthly (12% annually) and most other schools use 3-5% annually. Lots of built in room to look good with 'left over money'

Morgan,

I think that this story is pretty full and complete in this sentence, "DeJong's cursory examination of construction in those districts shows Guilford County Schools spending more per square foot than average ($157.17 vs. $138.97)." $20 per sq. ft. tells you all that you need to know. The only remaining question to be answered is whether this is a result of incompetence or corruption, or is it both? This has to be the answer when the costs are normalized for inflation, local economics and location of all the projects. But, we didn't need this study to tell us that, now did we? So, what's the next step? When are the taxpayers in this county going to wake up and expect better from this school district?

The News-Record has an excellent column by George Will in today's edition (2/2/07) regarding school choice. He makes the folowing statement about our public schools, in general, which can be applied specifically to GCS, "The public school lobby, which apparently has little confidence in its product, lives in fear of competition." When we see the ten's of millions of dollars being flushed down the drain in this school system with worthless "innovative" programs from the mind of Terry Grier, and the evidence that millions are being carelessly wasted on school construction projects, the need for competition screams out loud in this county. The private schools are overflowing because of its practices, with waiting lists to get students enrolled.

It would seem that allowing and enabling more charter schools and private schools via school choice is certainly in order in this county to provide that competition, as that is the one thing that they fear. Competition would require that they become more effective and efficient. At this time, we can see that there is no motivation to become better on the part of this school system. The costs go up, and the achievment (or product) goes down. In the competitive market place, that's a formula for eventual bankruptcy. Only in a government monopoly does this program work.

Stormy,
I would still advocate the public to read the report because one cannot assume that corruption and incompetence are the only possible reasons for building costs to be higher. For example, the normalization doesn't include variance in state and local building codes. Fortunately, DeJong and Summit's report compares what district schools offer or require in terms of acreage, class sizes, square feet per student, etc. The report also did not really look at life cycle costs. Is a district spending more money up front to realize cost savings in the end? That needs to be included in the discussion.

MOrgan,

So are you suggesting that GCS is building better buildings that will last much longer than the school districts in Mecklenburg and Forsyth counties, and districts in Nevada, Virginia, Georgia and Florida? Is GCS smarter than the school management in those counties? We are talking costs 14% above the average of the other counties. Where is the evidence that the extra 14% is justified by the life cycle? And, do we even know what the differences may be, if any, in terms of acreage, class sizes, square feet per student, etc? I'm not sure that I am buying that spin.

Better?
As I remember they were not safe.
They don't meet code and still cost more?

What am I missing?

Cost savings in the end?
The end will come with the first good wind.

Think about it. We skimp on steel and still cost more

Ya gotta wonder. How can this be?

Is any part of the cost difference the penalty imposed by contractors for doing business with GCS?

A couple of things.
Forsyth does it for less. The SB knows it, the public knows it and asks why. No answers, just acceptance of the fact. Its just complacency.

Next, if the green factor is so good and so beneficial why dont you see big business and others doing it? Answer: You dont, but little ole GC School system knows better.
I would like to see a real business case, Big business does nothing without a pay off in 1.5 years.
Grier, however, has to be different.

Truth,

The differences above come to 14% more in GCS, but we know that Forsyth can and has built high schools for less than 1/2 of what it costs GCS, and Forsyth is 30 miles away. Atkins and Reagan = $24 million each, Northern = At least $48 million (but we realy don't know the final cost yet). Rebuilding Eastern is going to be what, $60 million (and we already own the land). How can this be explained away?

This is why GCS does not want competition from charter and private schools. GCS simply could not compete on an even playing field. Give people school vouchers, and the public schools would become vacant. Hey, if that happened, we wouldn't need to build $80 million high schools, would we, as there would no longer be overcrowding.

Here's the problem as I see it...we're forced to "ask" for a premium because we can't get many contractors to bid on these projects, partly because of the increased MWBE requirements, and partly because the contractors who do bid these projects just don't want to deal with the crap involved with GCS. Part of my platform is to assign real estate and construction to an outside firm and let them handle that...GCS needs to be in the education biz, not the construction biz.

E.C.,

I understand that contractors exact a premium from GCS for the reasons cited, but it isn't sufficient to explain why it costs twice as much to build a school in GCS as it does 30 miles away in Forsyth. There's big problems here that haven't been uncovered. The Forsyth School Board is very attentive to the concerns of the public, and it holds the school district personnel accountable for building schools on-time and on-budget, something that this board fails to do. You may be right, though, that the answer is to get them out of the business of building schools all together. As I commented earlier in this strand that they need some good competition to make them perform better in every area. Maybe school vouchers for everyone is the ticket.

What's the big deal? It's only tax money!

The Rhino seems to think that our problem is as follows:

A member of our school board may be living in sin with a manager who works for a MWBE construction
company.

Any comments?