This editorial from the N&O lauds the Wake County Schools for using adaptive reuse. That’s not a bad thing. I agree that the school system should continue to look for opportunities to transform vacant buildings into schools. Unfortunately, they have only done so in years when a bond was at stake, as I pointed out here.
Nevertheless, the writer made a enormously misguided comment. “The local district’s construction costs, an independent study determined earlier this year, are not out of line.” I suppose it depends on how you define “out of line.” That “independent report” said that construction costs in Wake County are between 15 and 50 percent higher than comparable school systems, depending on the metric you use. Reducing the cost of a new school by 15 percent would save taxpayers nearly $3.5 million per elementary school and $7.5 million per high school.
The N&O may not consider this “out of line,” but I am sure taxpayers do. I certainly do.
