$12,000 per student for what?

I keep saying that living in DC is like living in a third world country, and I have more proof today. The Washington Examiner reports that DC schools are reporting that they need another $120 million to finish repairs to the schools for this year. The totally clueless mayor, Adrian Fenty says of the situation;

The $120 million will finance essential and long-neglected repairs at roughly 70 schools including fixing roofs and bathrooms and clearing health- and fire-code violations. It will also be used to ensure heat and air conditioning systems are installed and working in every classroom. “Why these things haven’t been addressed in years past is unexplainable and inexcusable”, Mayor Adrian Fenty said during a news conference outside Coolidge Senior High School, home to a freshly turfed and painted football field. “So we’re going to address them, and it’s going to cost probably about that much”.

Well, I know you can start looking at the former school adminstrators for answer into “why” – from another Examiner article;

Last year, Examiner reporter Bill Myers investigated Brenda Belton, who recently pleaded guilty to making $649,000 in illegal payments and sweetheart contracts to enrich herself and her friends while serving as executive director of D.C.’s Office of Charter School Oversight. Instead of making sure that every available dime was going to help special education students attending the 17 charter schools she was hired to oversee, Belton was brazenly stealing from them by forging signatures, handing out illegal kickbacks like Halloween candy, and depositing public funds into phony businesses and her own private accounts. Children in special ed already face an uphill academic climb and an uncertain future. Despicable doesn’t even begin to cover such behavior. Now, Myers reports that a teacher’s aide was also being paid two salaries for the past four years, one from the special ed department and another from outside contractors. Other special ed employees apparently collected full paychecks even after leaving the system, while their asleep-at-the-switch supervisors continued signing off on phony time sheets.

Hmm, pretty disturbing that this sort of waste of taxpayer dollars can go undetected by the people who think that children’s education is the most important thing in their lives, huh? From Jonetta Rose Barras, also of the Examiner;

During a news conference Monday, schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced there were 70 teachers who did not have assignments; their skills and subject area did not match current DCPS instructional needs. These individuals are called “excess teachers.” They are some of the folks about whom I wrote last week. They are destined, because of their seniority and rights inscribed in labor union agreements, to bump other teachers who may have more to offer the DCPS at this time in its history and, thus, could have a greater impact on children. […] Rhee, the reformer, says those 70 excess teachers with no place to go will continue to be paid. She couldn’t say how much. (Didn’t Rhee just a few weeks ago lambaste workers who couldn’t describe their jobs? Now we understand how the practice of employing adults without a portfolio is perpetuated: They want the paychecks; the government wants to placate the unions.) “I’m contractually obligated to keep those folks,” the reformer tells me. “There is a possibility we might do some kind of layoff, but nothing can happen until October.”

Well, there are enough lawyers on the payroll to find a way out of those “contractual obligations”, I’m sure – if the city was really concerned about the money they waste. The hard-earned money that taxpayers send them every payday. See, that’s the problem – everyone forgets that those millions, billions that are wasted come out of our paychecks. Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard the arguments about repairing roads and educating children and all of things that Leftists claim are essential – but that’s not what tax money is doing anymore. It’s lining pockets. That’s why bridges collapse, That’s why DC streets are lined with illiterate morons – GOVERMENT CAN’T DO WHAT THEY COLLECT OUR MONEY TO DO!!! When are the American taxpayers going to get that through our thick heads?

Category: Legal, Media, Politics, Society