Why rush to waste taxpayer money?

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006

The Seven Locks community is appalled that the county school board seems determined to rush into wasting taxpayer money. The board recently approved the construction contract to build a so-called ‘‘replacement” school for Seven Locks Elementary School on Kendale Road, despite the following major new developments:

*The county Inspector General is investigating the Kendale project.

* A majority of the county Planning Board is now questioning the suitability of the Kendale site for huge new school.

*The County Council is asking for updated and complete cost information.

*The county executive has promised to review the project.

The 6,000-family Seven Locks Coalition asks: Why waste taxpayer money on a new school that our community and PTA do not want? The County Council should say ‘‘no” to this school board boondoggle. It should reject the request for a special appropriation to fund Kendale cost-overruns. Instead, it should fund the original plan to expand and renovate the current Seven Locks School.

The Seven Locks mess may well become the ‘‘Clarksburg” of Montgomery County Public Schools unless wiser minds prevail. It’s time for real accountability on the school budget, which constitutes more than half the county budget.

Why close a perfectly fine school in Bethesda when more than 17,000 students are in portables and waste money on a glitzy new school in Potomac?

We salute those on the County Council who are asking tough questions about school costs. That’s the best way to free up funds for where they are needed most and guarantee quality education for all children.

Geoffrey Wolfe, Bethesda