I’ve been using the ‘pot of money’ slug all week, but —what can I say —- Triad government keeps finding them all over the place.
This time it’s Guilford County Schools — imagine that —– where Board of Education member Nancy Routh complains about possible elimination of the Public School Capital Building Fund, which provides state money for school construction:
School board member Nancy Routh said, “That has been cut this year, and, of course, when you take the lottery money that’s been cut, that doesn’t leave us any money coming from the state that can be used for capital projects.”
But Guilford County Schools has $123 million in the bank for capital projects as a result of school bonds issued in January and in earlier years, and another $350 million available in the form of voter approved, but not yet issued, school bonds.
OK, I’ve been critical of fellow board member Garth Hebert in the past, no so much for his views but for the way he states them. My problem has always been that Hebert needs to speak more forcefully at board meetings. To his credit, he speaks out in the local media, where his words indeed come across better in print. A perfect example is his views on Gov. Bev Perdue’s tax rally at Smith High School:
“She could have said, ‘Cut the expenses,'” Hebert said. “But everybody’s got their pet project and their pet money. I personally think, cut the expenses, and then after you do that, see what you have to do for revenue. And if you have to cut the schools, cut the schools. We may be crying, but I’ll tell you what, take a look at the total number of dollars, then count state spending on education. We have a $650 million budget.”
I’ll extend thanks to Hebert for clearing my conscience, because I was really having trouble mustering sympathy for the “pain” school systems are suffering in this economy.
