The Wake County commissioners plan to restore funding for school renovations, citing fears that costs would rise if they delayed the projects. The commissioners had questioned the cost of a number of school renovations that added few seats.
There have been substantial increases in school construction costs over the last few years, but prices for materials have begun to level off. Costs will rise at a more manageable rate in the next few years, provided there is no natural disaster that disrupts supply or production of essential materials. Whatever happens to costs, the fear of inflation should not outweigh the larger point the commissioners made when they initially decided to withhold funds from the school board.
Indeed, the point of withholding funds from the school board was to urge them to rethink their school construction priorities, namely adding school building capacity to accommodate growth. It should also be a way to encourage innovative school construction methods, such as those proposed in Mecklenburg and Cumberland counties.
In other news, Commissioner Betty Lou Ward said, “We need to give the school board what they asked for.”
