Texas High School is Spending $60 Million on a New Football Stadium

Click here to read all about it.

The article reports that the high school needs the facility, that the current facility is outdated, that the school is in the third-largest school district in Texas, that the academics are top-notch and that 44 kids got scholarships to Division I schools for athletics this past year.

Got all that?

What are your thoughts?

Is this a wise expenditure of $60 million? Well, 63% of the voters in the school district thought so when they approved the bond issue? Even in a recession, even with all the hue and cry about the diminishing quality of education in the United States. My take is that local school districts should determine what their priorities are, and this local school district decided to allocate this money not just for football, but for other athletic teams and programs, most of which support athletics. That said, in the scheme of things, it also shows a disparity between "haves" and "have nots", as, in this day and age, the expenditure of this sum of money on athletics will seem extravagant to those whose districts are cutting programs just to provide basics for their students. From that vantage point, the expenditure does seem extravagant to me. But, I'll be the first to point out that I do not live in this district, don't understand its priorities, and will be the first person also to acknowledge that it's not my role or right to tell them how to spend their money. That's up to the residents of the district, and time will tell whether this was a wise decision or the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

No matter how you look at it, it is a lot of money.