Thread by @TracyNovick

ok, because the press dutifully replicated the #Worcester City Manager's 'spending as much on schools as five ballparks' line in allll the reporting from yesterday's South tour, a couple of things:

First, could we check the math please? The *city* is spending as five times as much on school construction as ballparks the same way the *city* spends most of its budget on schools: ONLY IF WE JUST MISS THAT MOST OF THE MONEY COMES FROM THE STATE.

Let's not, eh?

Second (and more importantly):

What do we actually NEED, #Worcester?

Do we need a minor league ballpark that by every bit of research out there is going to become a giant money sink?

Or do we need new school buildings?

Hm, well, the $15.5M (and much of THAT is state and federal too, before we get carried away) being spent on HVAC work argues that many of the school buildings need some attention.

If we weren't betting (literally) the city's fiscal future on a minor league ballpark, we could perhaps have taken that "one fifth" of two high schools and spend on...Burncoat, how about?
Or making any sort of a dang plan around our elementary schools, for which we have NONE?

And by doing so, we'd then be investing in the future of our CHILDREN who could use the investment, rather than using municipal resources to further enrich those who are already doing quite well for themselves.

And investing in education, incidentally, usually returns quite nicely for municipalities, too.

Let's not just quote the good lines, here, folks. Let's check their veracity and examine the assumptions on which they are based. #worcpoli #Worcester #WorcSchools