LA unveils $578M school, costliest in the nation

LA unveils $578M school, costliest in the nation

Yahoo News Article

I personally think this is excellent. The school itself, along with the other two schools mentioned in the arricle, sound beautiful. They are a far cry from the prison that I went to as a kid. I think that this is absolutely where the government should be spending their money. In my opinion the aesthetic aspect of educational institutions is very important. I think that all schools should be like this. The only part that saddens me is that they are not building more.

There's no more of the old, windowless cinderblock schools of the '70s where kids felt, 'Oh, back to jail,'" said Joe Agron, editor-in-chief of American School & University, a school construction journal. "Districts want a showpiece for the community, a really impressive environment for learning."

This part is pathetic. Where does this guy think the money could be better spent? Should we spend it on war? More police? Personally, I think kids would learn more if they actually liked the environment thet were learning in.

New buildings are nice, but when they're run by the same people who've given us a 50 percent dropout rate, they're a big waste of taxpayer money," said Ben Austin, executive director of Parent Revolution who sits on the California Board of Education. "Parents aren't fooled."

I think this is a much wiser investment than TARP or The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Neither of which have helped economic recovery. Plus if there are more schools, then you need more teachers so you have more jobs.

This is the best part:

In Los Angeles, officials say the new schools were planned long before the economic pinch and are funded by $20 billion in voter-approved bonds that do not affect the educational budget.

Voters do still know what's good for this country.

This man should be removed from office:

Still, even LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines derided some of the extravagance, noting that donations should have been sought to fund the RFK project's talking benches commemorating the site's history.

I guess I was wrong, they are building more.

Connie Rice, member of the district's School Bond Oversight Committee noted the megaschools are only three of 131 that the district is building to alleviate overcrowding. RFK "is an amazing facility," she said. "Is it a lot of money? Yes. We didn't like it, but they got it done."

They just won't be as nice.

Sohn said LA Unified has reached the end of its Taj Mahal building spree."These are definitely the exceptions," he said. "We don't anticipate schools costing hundreds of millions of dollars in the future."

That's too bad.

Hats off to LAUSD. This is an excellent way to spend my money. I am pleased.

This one must have slipped through the cracks past TPTB.

schools where i am from use fifteen year old text books and out dated computers if they have them at all. but i guess kids in california are more important than kids from here. why don't you just burn our schools down and quit building them here altogether. maybe then you could save enough to buy all the students in los angeles laptops and put marble hallways in their schools. i love you too america thanks a lot for your support and your belief in my future.



[edit on 24-8-2010 by 2weird2live2rare2die]

Nice! $578M school when the state is going bankrupt and they can hardly afford to pay the teachers.

This is a prime example of why California is going under. This money could have been spread around in the education system a bit better to help existing schools that are drowning.

Its all about the bling in LA...

We sit in billion and a half dollar stadiums to watch our favorite baseball/football teams but get all bent out of shape when we build a state of the art high school. Something is really seriously wrong.

Originally posted by GArnold
We sit in billion and a half dollar stadiums to watch our favorite baseball/football teams but get all bent out of shape when we build a state of the art high school. Something is really seriously wrong.

yes but california has no money. they say we will be paying people in IOU's in a matter of weeks. No budget has been past. (was due in june i belive)

Its all great but sounds like alot of wasted money. O well then right? at least my company i work for will be bidding it and i get to work another day.

reply to post by GArnold


That's not what upsets me. What upsets me is the money could have went to help 50 schools in need instead of building 1 extravagant school.



[edit on 24-8-2010 by Digital_Reality]

reply to post by Digital_Reality


What upsets me is that more money is not spent on 100 state of the art schools like this and less on things like welfare and prison. Why don't we educate everyone in a beautiful new state of the art school so they can get a job instead of being on welfare or in prison when they graduate.

Its not about spreading the money evenly. Its about putting more money into it

[edit on 8/24/2010 by dbloch7986]

Double Post

[edit on 8/24/2010 by dbloch7986]

Originally posted by camaro68ss

Originally posted by GArnold
We sit in billion and a half dollar stadiums to watch our favorite baseball/football teams but get all bent out of shape when we build a state of the art high school. Something is really seriously wrong.

yes but california has no money. they say we will be paying people in IOU's in a matter of weeks. No budget has been past. (was due in june i belive)

Its all great but sounds like alot of wasted money. O well then right? at least my company i work for will be bidding it and i get to work another day.

This is why we need better schools.

LAUSD paid for it, not the state of California.

They paid for it in specially designated bonds, not with the funds they use to pay bills.

Better schools ftw.

Originally posted by GArnold
We sit in billion and a half dollar stadiums to watch our favorite baseball/football teams but get all bent out of shape when we build a state of the art high school. Something is really seriously wrong.

Case-in-point right here.

Thank you for so succinctly conveying the message of my OP.

Originally posted by 2weird2live2rare2die
schools where i am from use fifteen year old text books and out dated computers if they have them at all. but i guess kids in california are more important than kids from here. why don't you just burn our schools down and quit building them here altogether. maybe then you could save enough to buy all the students in los angeles laptops and put marble hallways in their schools. i love you too america thanks a lot for your support and your belief in my future.



[edit on 24-8-2010 by 2weird2live2rare2die]

"America" doesn't pay for schools. Your school district does. This is a story about LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) who took out bonds to raise the funds for these three schools and 131 others. It is not "America" that is paying for it.

Double Post

[edit on 8/24/2010 by dbloch7986]

I think a pleasing environment is important. Those old archaic schools were pretty stuffy and the lighting and bells ringing! If we used our imagination, what would be the ideal school? Fountains, trees incorporated into the design, which would purify the air. Solar lighting and heating and maybe there should be some areas for meditation with soothing music, lol and a different approach to teaching! I'd love to see more hands on experience, instead of reading about it in a book! Instead of only reading about history, actually see it on the wall in 3D.

reply to post by Onboard2


I agree with you 100% education is one of the most important aspects of society. Better schools means a better future. We do not put enough time or effort into education. We need more extravagant expenditures like this. I like the way you think

How does this help the other schools? This is the stupidest thing ever. California has got to be the most retarded state in the US.

You can build a 1 bullion dollar school and pay the teachers $7 an hour and you are still going to get a $7 an hour education.
The Public school teachers’ pension underfunding totals about $933 billion.

This is the equivalent of a homeless person buying a $3000 sofa.


Edit to change wording...












[edit on 24-8-2010 by Digital_Reality]

Originally posted by camaro68ss

Originally posted by GArnold
We sit in billion and a half dollar stadiums to watch our favorite baseball/football teams but get all bent out of shape when we build a state of the art high school. Something is really seriously wrong.

yes but california has no money. they say we will be paying people in IOU's in a matter of weeks. No budget has been past. (was due in june i belive)

Its all great but sounds like alot of wasted money. O well then right? at least my company i work for will be bidding it and i get to work another day.

Yes.. I understand your point. The only way you will turn around the economy is by educating the next generation of leaders however. It has to start with education. We live in a dumb nation where the ability to think for yourself has been shot to hell. Of course education needs to be fixed as well but it has to start somewhere.

reply to post by Digital_Reality


Its not the state of California.

Its the LAUSD.

They issued bonds.

Teachers make a lot more than $7/hr.

California and LAUSD are dumb for investing in education? Where would you rather they spend the money?

They said they are opening another 131 schools with the same bonds. So obviously they didn't spend it on this one school.

The school is opening next month. Obviously they have hired more teachers to staff it.

reply to post by GArnold


Exactly. You have to start somewhere. You have to spend money to make money, or so the old addage goes.

What would be a better investment than education? These people see a price tag and they start railing about extravagance. This is crazy!! Mrs. Obama spent half a million on a vacation to Italy. We've spent countless TRILLIONS on war. These people are angry about a half a billion on a school!

Its insanity is what it is. I meant for this to be good news.

Whatever. Clearly we don't agree and that's ok.

Build more ritzy schools while your dilapidated schools in lower income neighborhoods fall by the wayside. But who cares about those kids? They are just low class underachievers anyway. Hmmm , I wonder why ??

Can't wait to see how many kids are saved from intoxicated and impoverished ghetto fabulous gang life by that giant Bobby Kennedy mural.

Morons, morons everywhere. Wouldnt be so bad if their stupidity didnt affect me but it does.