Anyway you slice it, the Schultz Center is a bad deal for our schools.

Get this, the district owns the buildings, takes care of upkeep and maintenance and then provides the staff for all the training too. For all of this the district then pays the Schultz Center two and a half million dollars a year and has been doing so for a decade.

Oh and we charge them a dollar a year for rent too.

Are you back? I figured you probably fainted.

I have been to dozens of trainings and I would say only about a quater were at the Schultz Center but at none of them did I think, wow I am glad this is here we couldn't have done this in my school library (or computer lab, or the great big closet at the end of the hall).

Superintendent Vitti in an editorial in the Times Union spoke about the need to end the deal and I agreed with him on every point except when he wrote:

“Difficult decisions will need to be made, not based on emotion but rather to maximize every cent of taxpayers’ dollars to increase student achievement.”

This should not be a difficult decision. It is an easy one. 

To read his piece in its entirety, click the link:

http://members.jacksonville.com/opinion/premium-opinion/2013-03-22/story/guest-column-superintendent-explains-his-position-schultz