This article originally appeared on 18 September 2017.
If we spend $180 million for a redundant arena, that’s $180 million we can’t spend on something else.
Some people don’t get that. They think the taxpayers’ pockets are bottomless.
One thing we could do is give $100,000 to the best teacher in the city, every year. Or the best two teachers in the city. Or the best five.
We could give $100,000 to the best five teachers in the city for 360 years. We could do it forever if we invested the principle.
With an incentive like that, how long would it be before El Paso had the best teachers in the country?
And how long after that before people started moving to El Paso for the schools?
And how long after that before businesses started moving here for the people?
Or we could take that money and put it into a bottomless pit that will never show a return.
What do you think the City could do with $180 million?
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/argenberg/ – http://www.flickr.com/photos/argenberg/2505926966/in/set-72157605142404037, CC BY 2.0, Link
This presupposes that teachers provide a benefit to society, which is arguable. Our public school system trails many third-world countries and gets worse every year while teachers make every attempt to avoid responsibility by ending testing.
You are arguing that good teachers don’t provide a benefit to society?
Please don’t breed.