
LA Unveils Costliest School In The Nation - that's $137k per student - stretchwithme
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/22/robert-f-kennedy-communit_n_690497.html
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jdale27
_that's $137k per student_

Only if they keep it open for just one year.

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fondue
How many years do they need to keep it open to break even? How many years is
the expected lifetime of the facilty?

Or the biggest question ... how many teachers could have been kept on payroll
if they hadn't built it?

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benmccann
"Or the biggest question ... how many teachers could have been kept on payroll
if they hadn't built it?"

I'm not sure this is the question to be asking. Obviously the laid off
teachers will be upset to see lavish spending as they are let go, but I would
argue student achievement is the better metric. It's possible that a new
building helps students learn at a faster pace than a low student to teacher
ratio.

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stretchwithme
agreed. dollars spent per unit of educational progress. I doubt a valid "unit"
exists, which is one reason the public sector consistently fails at this.
otherwise, you'd think turning over your brain over to government would work
like a charm.

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nhebb
_"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 had trouble believing the 50% dropout rate statistic, so I did a little
Googling and found [1] that it was 34.9% in Los Angeles. While not 50%, 35% is
still incredible. No wonder why the LA poverty rate is so high.

[1] [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/high-school-
dr...](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/high-school-dropout-rate-
climbs-to-349.html)

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gahahaha
"No wonder why the LA poverty rate is so high."

Cause and effect.

It is more likely that the high drop out rate is caused by poverty and an
uneducated environment. We have the same thing here in the north of Norway.
Poor region (relatively) with low education levels among citizens and parents
and higher dropout rates. Probably around 30%.

Also: educational achievement is STRONGLY correlated with equality, and
California is one of the most unequal American states.

<http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence/education>

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nazgulnarsil
a lovely shrine to our re-education facilities.

honestly if you have ever been outraged at the perceived inefficiency of
public education read Underground History of American Education by John Taylor
Gatto. Most of the "inefficiencies" make plenty of sense when you see that the
stated goals of our education system do not align with their actual effects.

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gahahaha
So... Soviet Russia had it right? Big, ugly and cheap buildings are the way to
go? American conservatives never cease to surprise me.

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ericd
Don't bring that here. Invoking Communism, the Nazis, etc. is generally not a
good debate tactic, and panning an entire party is especially unwelcome.

Given the fact that CA is nearly bankrupt, this seems to me to be a travesty.
It may not be the absolute worst way to spend money (please don't invoke
wars), but it shows a pretty flagrant disregard for the fiscal realities of
things.

Do you see why people might reasonably be unhappy about this?

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gahahaha
My point was that beautiful surroundings matter.

I assumed that comparing the US to the USSR was so ludicrous that my real
point would be obvious. But the Internet is not a place for subtleties.

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balding_n_tired
Beautiful surroundings are a fine thing. But I've seen some good schooling
done in pretty ugly buildings. In general I suspect the American propensity
for applying capital solutions to labor-intensive problems.

