Jackson County school expenditures are in the news. The standout line item in a $9 million capital improvement budget is $2.6 million for repairing leaking roofs on four schools. The education system has, through extensive study no doubt, come to the conclusion that the flat roofs might have something to do with the problem. Somewhere off twitter, like Wikipedia, it is mentioned that people spend lots of money and raw materials on making roofs slope so rain can run off, as opposed to sitting and bowing the roof to add more and more of a load. Jackson County typically gets 57 inches of rain a year; the national average is 37 inches. That’s OK. Avoidably bad designs happen in the private sector, too.
As for the $915,000 wanted for Astroturf, Jackson County Schools made headlines when they were awarded $200,000 from the Carolina Panthers. The county pitched in another $515,000. Yet, to date fundraisers have only garnered $3200 from other donors. April 15 is the date at which plans will turn back into a pumpkin if another $196,800 isn’t raised.