"Buildings don’t teach kids. People do. "

Somebody better tell Scott Milder about this.

We should invest much more in ensuring that we attract, retain, and motivate the best people as teachers rather than in "21st Century" facilities (whatever that blather means). The systematic evidence overwhelmingly shows that the quality of school facilities in the United States has no relationship to student achievement, while the quality of teachers is very strongly related. In the Handbook of the Economics of Education, Eric Hanushek reviews all of the research meeting minimal quality standards regarding the relationship between school facilities and student performance. He identifies 91 analyses on the issue in the U.S. and finds that 86% of them show no statistically significant relationship. Of the remaining 14% of analyses that did show significant effects, 9% were positive and 5% were negative.

Meanwhile, Dallas Observer journalist Jim Schutze is begging taxpayers to "Take Back Your Schools" from the construction industry.

Regarding the Dallas ISD budget fiasco and their bond program, Schutze writes:

Don't let me give the impression that school board trustees are lambs led to slaughter. Many of the same names—people who make money from public works projects—march through their campaign contribution lists like tin soldiers: Aguirre and Alcantar are frequent contributors, along with William Solomon of Austin Industries; Henry C. Beck III of Beck Group Construction; Arcilia Acosta, CEO of Carcon Industries and Construction; and Ron Steinhart, a director of the huge cement company TXI and many other stalwarts of the public works industry. Solomon, Beck and Acosta are not among the business foxes who have volunteered to come down and watch the poultry.
Look, I'm not saying these men should not support the schools. But there are three things I definitely do want to say: 1) Too many of these guys have overweening interests in the school bond construction campaigns; 2) they have a damned lousy track record of success for their manipulation so far (Yvonne Gonzalez, Waldemar Rojas and the current meltdown, for example); and 3) there are plenty of other people around town (including maybe a couple of women) who could come at this from a far less compromised perspective.

Schutze also mentions, in passing, our good mayor's father's company, Pegasus Projects, "which was hired by the school district to oversee the entire $1.3 billion 2002 school bond construction project" ...

Mayor Knight is deeply interested in helping Lancaster schools. He served, for instance, on one of the (several, recently) bond planning committees. (That's not a great recommendation by the way. So did I...)

But of the 200 or so students forecast to attend Lancaster ISD who didn't show up -- Mayor Knight's are among them.

The problem is always spending more money on fancy schmancy buildings that show off an administrator's "edifice complex" -- and less on hiring and retaining good teachers.

Here we go again.