EDITORIAL
School fixes should not be politicized
It's no secret that political power, influence and even a little luck have much to do with which public schools win improvement projects every legislative session.
With our single statewide school system, organizing repair and construction projects should be relatively straightforward. Officials would examine the needs, prioritize them, then deal with them in order of importance.
But as Advertiser writer Johnny Brannon reported Sunday, it is hardly that simple.
Once again, the construction budget for the public school system is far more dependent on legislative influence and pork-barrel politics than on priorities set by the Department of Education.
A fair amount of cynicism drives the system today.
Education officials are loath to complain too much because — after all — money is money and even if it goes to a project not on the DOE's list, it is still needed and appreciated by the receiving school.
The system won't change until DOE administrators challenge it.
On their end, lawmakers point out that they, and their constituents, are as close if not closer to the needs of the schools and school administrators in their own districts.
That's probably true. But the end result is 76 individuals fighting mightily for the top priorities for their own districts, with little attention paid to the overall needs of the system.
It comes down to power, influence and horse-trading at the Legislature rather than rational priorities.
Lawmakers also point out that there is no magic to the list prepared by the Department of Education. The department's priorities can be influenced by its own internal politics as well as by a desire to please powerful legislators.
If that's so, then the answer is to reform the DOE process rather than turn things over to the hothouse atmosphere of a legislative session.
Legislators have a right, indeed a duty, to fight for their districts. But that fight should take place at the Department of Education, as priority construction lists are drawn up.
If legislators feel the DOE list is out of whack, they should say so and explain how it should be fixed, rather than simply substituting their own priorities.
Far more construction money was approved for projects identified by legislators than was approved for projects identified by the Department of Education. That may reflect political reality. But it is no way to run a school system.
The place for legislators to fight for their districts is in the Department of Education, as it builds its construction priority list, not in the caucuses and back rooms of the Legislature.
