What do you think of a school district that has to beg for the funding levy to pass to meet its basic budget requirements? Now, what do you think if that school district sets aside more than $100K to hire a public relations firm?
As noted in a story by the Dayton Daily News, the Dayton school district is spending $6K per month over 18 months to “revamp the school district’s image.”
One sane person on the Dayton School Board, Joe Lacey voted against the contract, indicating that it didn’t make sense to be spending money for a PR firm when the district is cutting budgets and dealing with performance issues. He so aptly noted, “We’re last place in the state in performance and I don’t think the answer to that is to get a slogan with more punch to it.”
Perhaps they can find a way to increase the taxes on the citizens of Dayton, then look to an Economic Stimulus bill from Washington that will enable them to increase the PR budget to $200K… this will make the students even better educated.