Schools and money
Regarding the Nov. 21 Forum piece "Start Cutting Here, Gov. Corbett": Thomas Hylton rightly takes aim at the Pennsylvania Department of Education's PlanCon process. In addition to potentially over-building the commonwealth with overdone facilities, the department's management of the program deserves a failing grade when putting into practice regulations designed to protect residents and taxpayers.
Looking at our experience in Mt. Lebanon, regulations require the Department of Education to consider the "annual cost of amortization" of a project when evaluating a community's local effort and affordability. For no good reason, the state education department used an annual amortization cost of zero in its PlanCon review of our $100 million-plus high school renovation.
Presumably because the department did it and approved it, school superintendent Timothy Steinhauer and our school board majority took no issue with the analysis, despite indications that the proper application of the regulations could call into question the community's ability to pay for the high school, let alone other cost increases to come.
We are very much in need of Gov.-elect Tom Corbett's refined moral compass, all across Pennsylvania.
BILL MATTHEWS
Mt. Lebanon
Mt. Lebanon
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10339/1108105-110.stm#ixzz17FyzqXfs
