Los Angeles Unveils $578 Million Public School

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from an Associated Press report on next month's opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles: "With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation's most expensive public school ever. The K-12 complex to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la creme of 'Taj Mahal' schools, $100 million-plus campuses boasting both architectural panache and deluxe amenities. ... At RFK, the features include fine art murals and a marble memorial depicting the complex's namesake, a manicured public park, and a state-of-the-art swimming pool. 'There's no more of the old, windowless cinderblock schools of the '70s where kids felt, "Oh, back to jail,"' said Joe Agron, editor-in-chief of American School & University, a school construction journal. 'Districts want a showpiece for the community, a really impressive environment for learning.' ... Critics note that nearly 3,000 teachers have been laid off over the past two years, the academic year and programs have been slashed, the district faces a $640 million shortfall and some schools persistently rank among the nation's lowest performing."

Comments

Maintenance Cost

[BondGamer]

With a price tag like that, the upkeep is going to be astronomical. When they upgraded our local school to have air conditioning, they couldn't turn it on because it would cost ~$25,000 just to start! They are also talking about turning a perfectly good grass field into astroturf at a cost of 1 million dollars.

Re:I can think of better uses for $500 million

[_Sharp'r_]

Get back to us with your expected lifespan for the building, then we'll look for LA's.

The expected lifespan of the building we built was 50+ years. It's a purpose-build modern public school with all the amenities like commercial kitchen, science labs, art labs, full size basketball gym, sports fields, playgrounds, common area, theater, music and language rooms, administration office space, parking lots, teacher prep rooms, library 3x the size of any other in the community, special education facilities, student gardens, sprinklers, internal steel fire and emergency doors, commercial wire plant, elevator, etc...

It's not like $9 million doesn't get you a lot, even today.... these guys spent almost $140K/student? There is no measurement by which that is a "reasonable" amount...