Reader: Something wrong with RSD math?

The recent flyer from the Royal School District is hard to understand and misleading.

Justification for a construction bond is based on enrollment dating back to 1996 with an unrelated statement that the school district has increased 244% since 1966.

This statement makes the reader believe in a 244% increase in enrollment but fails to point out new buildings, additions, and improvements to house the increase in students from 1966 through 2011/2012.

Using the published numbers in the flyer, enrollment percentage increases show the impact is much less than the 244% number imply.

1996 = 1170, 2013 = 1559, change 389 students, percent of change (increase) [389/1170] 33.2%

1996 = 1170, 2015 = 1726, change 556 students, percent of change (increase) [556/1170] 47.5

Using 1996 numbers does not make any more justified sense than using the 1966 number either. New buildings, classrooms, and remodeling have been added since 1996 to accommodate the increased number of students through 2011/2012, so we are really only looking at increased enrollment justification that affects classrooms after 2011/2012.

2011 = 1483, 2015 = 1726, change = 243 students, percent of change (increase) [243/1483] 16.4%.

An 8.75 million dollar bond equates to $36,008.23 per child, more than one-fourth the cost of a 3,600-square foot factory-made super good sense building. $8.75 million dollars is enough money to purchase 252,000 square feet of manufactured, super insulated space complete with 210 bathrooms and 140 heat pump heating & cooling systems.

Where is the accountability? Unnecessarily expensive classrooms don't teach accountability or responsibility. They teach want and waste. Expensive buildings do not make better students or improve education. The money would be better spent if it were improving education.

Furthermore, let's look at who pays the bonds; Private Sector Property Owners; the largest share are the local farmers/ranchers, followed by businesses and private sector employees. All bonds are funded with private sector dollars directly and indirectly through taxation to meet government payroll and subsidies.

You might ask about the benefit(s) of the state's matching funds? What benefit can be gained by adding more taxes to the private sector; taxes that can only result in the destruction of businesses and tax paying jobs?

On a personal note, it is apparent the School District spent a lot of money on their construction bond advertising card, enough in fact to think that as an educational system the least they could do is get all the facts and get all the numbers right.

Dale Hellewell,

Royal City