Los Angeles is unveiling the nation’s costliest public school project ever, the new Robert F. Kennedy Community school. Rife with lavish detail, the plush interior is more reminiscent of a swanky nightclub than of a learning institution. That’s no accident, by the way, as parts of it were modeled after the fabled Coconut Grove. No expense was spared, but that’s touched off a firestorm of criticism. At a whopping $578 million, the school’s grand price tag is starkly at odds with the state’s crippling budget crisis, which has already led to slashed programs and teacher layoffs. Detractors are asking how such a massive expenditure on a single school is justifiable. But the school’s officials and defenders are quick to point that the project was undertaken in 2006, when the financial landscape was entirely different. Moreover, the money used to subsidize the project didn’t come from California’s education budget, but from a voter-approved bond measure. Regardless, that hasn’t diluted the sticker shock that’s left many parents and taxpayers asking questions. What do you think? Is $578 million dollars for a single public school appropriate?
Half a billion dollars for a single school?
Los Angeles is unveiling the nation’s costliest public school project ever, the new Robert F. Kennedy Community school. Rife with lavish detail, the plush interior is more reminiscent of a swanky nightclub than of a learning institution. That’s no accident, by the way, as parts of it were modeled after the fabled Coconut Grove. No expense was spared, but that’s touched off a firestorm of cr