Residents of a Florida school district wondering why their tax money wasn't enough to keep more than 500 teachers from being laid off this school year might have a few butterfly gardens to thank.
The Broward School District laid off 1,305 employees in June, including 568 teachers, the Employment Spectator reported.
From 2004 to 2008, however, the district managed to pay local developer Roy Rogers more than $394,000 to plant gardens designed to lure butterflies to campus, then negotiated a three-year contract with him in 2007 worth up to $1 million, the Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Teachers vs. Butterflies
This is a good starting point for a conversation regarding priorities, necessities, and luxuries:
Ok. A $130 MILLION dollar deficit here. The butterfly gardens are NOT the reason that people can "thank" for teacher layoffs. The reporter is examining the wrong angle on this. At most we're talking about $1.5 million on the gardens... Of far greater concern should be the fact that OVER $130 million was overspent.
ReplyDeleteOh, the butterfly gardens make a great introductory paragraph, but that's not the most glaring problem with the budgeting.
And... "Roy Rogers" is developing this? lol Well, happy trails, then. :)