The Many Facets of Bond

To the Education Bureaucracy, it seems like the world is never enough. It’s as if every citizen is made in the Midas mold, seeing school buildings with a golden eye and signing off on bond referenda with a gold finger. Education Policy Analyst, Terry Stoops, blasts the living daylights out of Wake County’s proposed $1.056 billion school facilities spending plan in his latest Policy Report, highlighting their reckless tomorrow-never-dies construction-shopping list. In his assessment, there are cost-cutting measures that should be taken, and other options to consider – like raising the charter school cap; an issue Lindalyn Kakadelis continued harping on with the Rhino Times this week. The Wake County Public School System responded promptly to Terry’s report, making note of all the ways in which their proposal supposedly falls in line with Terry’s recommendations.  One can’t help but wonder if this backpedaling is a sign of panic from the school system.  I can see the government fan club huddled together, collectively reflecting on the failed Charlotte school bond, chanting, “Never say never, again.” Ah, the yearning to die another day. To the contrary, the cast and crew of potential voters seem less inclined to support the bond. Many fault the partitioning of bond funds towards projects that don’t support the presumed student population boom as a license to kill a porker of a monetary request.