As the new school year starts Wayne Bolla, a School Board member had an article in the Clay Sun writing about what else MONEY or lack of. I talked to Wayne a while ago about the cost of schools. My question was why we have to make schools so expensive by spending money on looks instead of function. His answer was and I quote “we don’t want ugly schools”. I want taxpayer money to be spent to build functional schools not “beautiful” schools. A school should be built to meet code and all state safety standards. It should be cost and energy efficient. In case the school board has not figured it out this is not a rich county.
It seems the school board as most elected officials believe, if they cry and whine long enough we will give them new taxes. How about showing us they can make some tough choices first, and than maybe we might meet them half-way. Here are some suggestions I have:
1. Since we own our school buses have you looked at bio-fuel, or propane as fuel? Both have advantages, and could end up saving money in fuel and maintenance cost. I believe I read that last year St Johns County was testing bio-fuel on a small scale, maybe other school systems in the state or country are already doing this.
2. Solar energy. First let me say I know it is not practical to power a school, but maybe for the night security lights? Who knows it can be added on to later for other small functions. Maybe work with Clay Co-Op and find some type of government grant.
Suggestions 1 and 2 could also get the students involved: Auto shop, Biology, Electric, Chemistry, Math and the list goes on.
Now for the major money saver and the most hate that will be directed toward me. First let me say I like sports, but are we paying taxes to make the next superstar on the football, baseball soccer, etc field, or is it the primary function of the schools to educate our students. This means to spend the money to first educate all the students and if there is extra then sports is fine. For those of you who think sports do not take that much money out of the budget I went to the web sites of just the Clay high schools and looked and the sport teams listed.
Clay High 21 sport teams
Fleming High 23 sport teams
Keystone Jr/Sr High 18 sport teams
Middleburg High 29 sport teams
Oakleaf 11 sport teams (new school)
Orange Park 28 sport teams
Ridgeview High 20 sport teams
That is a total of 150 girl and boys teams to support every year. This does not include cheerleaders, and dance squads. Remember this is just the high schools the middle schools have sport teams also
Could someone go to the school board and get a total cost that these teams spend every year? I admit it would be hard to get a true cost. Some things to consider:
Uniforms, equipment, medical (tape, band-aid, ace bandage splints etc), field upkeep (major) travel cost (bus cost and driver) officials for all games must be paid, lights for night games (I wonder what the light bill is for one football game) and this list goes on. I probably have missed a few expenses, but you get the idea.
I’m not saying we should abolish sports. We have two choices cut back to 8-10 sport teams per school, and to be fair if you have 10 teams 5 would be major sports and 5 would be minor sports. Or we have two high schools maybe three in later years as we continue to grow that would be the “sport schools” These high schools would be located to best suit the population., But both schools would not be in the same area. If parents believed their children were going to be the next superstars it would be up to them to get their sweethearts to that school. When you stop to think about this you sport nuts should be behind me 100%. Only two high schools in Clay County that would have sports, think of the talent in those two schools. It would put Clay County on the map. Not my real plan, I want to save money.
OK bloggers what do you think?