Like, it’s been a while since I was in university, but I remember learning about an incredibly stupid funds allocation process for new schools. They decided to fund schools according to their “percent allocation.”
Basically, what percentage of a school that was actively being used for teaching was a key factor in how it got funded. The idea was to favor schools being built in more efficient ways, which sounds great on paper.
But it was the same kind of narrow minded pursuit of a type of efficiency incompatible with reality.
Gyms, theaters (for drama programs), cafeterias? None of these contribute to learning, obviously, so any schools with those get reduced funding.
What about office spaces? Unused classrooms, for schools that are built in anticipation of growing populations? Janitor closets? Staff rooms? Let’s minimize those as much as possible, too! Because that makes all the sense!
Literally, in my district, (though I don’t actually know if that is the actual reason) they closed the other middle school a few years ago, so that this one is the only middle school in town. It’s vastly over capacity. We have two portables to handle the overflow. We have teachers sharing a classroom, where they have prep blocks in a different rotation, and a few PE classes to have one class’s kids outside of the classroom.
And yet, there’s an empty school not twenty minutes from here, abandoned. Like, what the hell…
But I guess this school is definitely being fully utilized, and that means it’s more efficient, right…? Sigh.
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I agree that that’s an issue, to be sure.
Like, it’s been a while since I was in university, but I remember learning about an incredibly stupid funds allocation process for new schools. They decided to fund schools according to their “percent allocation.”
Basically, what percentage of a school that was actively being used for teaching was a key factor in how it got funded. The idea was to favor schools being built in more efficient ways, which sounds great on paper.
But it was the same kind of narrow minded pursuit of a type of efficiency incompatible with reality.
Gyms, theaters (for drama programs), cafeterias? None of these contribute to learning, obviously, so any schools with those get reduced funding.
What about office spaces? Unused classrooms, for schools that are built in anticipation of growing populations? Janitor closets? Staff rooms? Let’s minimize those as much as possible, too! Because that makes all the sense!
Literally, in my district, (though I don’t actually know if that is the actual reason) they closed the other middle school a few years ago, so that this one is the only middle school in town. It’s vastly over capacity. We have two portables to handle the overflow. We have teachers sharing a classroom, where they have prep blocks in a different rotation, and a few PE classes to have one class’s kids outside of the classroom.
And yet, there’s an empty school not twenty minutes from here, abandoned. Like, what the hell…
But I guess this school is definitely being fully utilized, and that means it’s more efficient, right…? Sigh.