For the second election in a row, the Alamosa School Board of Education begged Alamosans to raise taxes to build a new football stadium. Unlike last year, the voters let them do it despite the horrendous academic performance of AHS students on Colorado's TCAP exams.
The story just keeps getting better for Alamosa Schools. Parents of students in Ortega Middle School were forced to go to the school board to beg them to fund the gifted and talented program.
“Some years the gifted and talented program has been great and some years it has been lacking,” [ABOE Officer Keith] Vance said. “It is tough to get a gifted and talented program with the minimal funding that we have, but that is not an excuse. It is a sin for a kid to be bored. We are going to make an effort with this. Alamosa should have the best gifted and talented program in the Valley because this is the best school district.” (emphasis mine)
Yes, Vance had the audacity to complain about a lack of funding just days after they raised taxes to build a football stadium. After all, it's not like they have $2.2 million from the sale of two buildings just sitting around. Oh, wait.
That's right. The ABOE has decided that it's more important to ask voters to fund a football stadium rather than fund education. There couldn't be a better example of where their priorities lie.
This is a great opportunity to share an interview with Salman Khan. The public school system as we know is broken. It's time to rethink how we, as a nation, educate students.
