Unfortunately for North Carolina’s students, most of the adult debate over schools has focused on where to find the money to build the schools to accommodate its rapidly growing student population. Last year several NC counties passed bonded indebtedness of nearly $1.5 billion and presently counties and the state are discussing more bonds totaling an additional $3.6 billion.
Lost in this discussion is the fact that buildings don’t teach students anything. A dramatic illustration of this concept is found in BASIS High School in Tucson, Arizona. Newsweek magazine ranked BASIS third among all high schools in the nation. BASIS achieved this prestigious ranking in a building that offers only 60 square feet per high school student compared to North Carolina’s average of 168 square feet per high school student. BASIS’s building cost $9,242 per high school student compared to the North Carolina average of $23,356 per high school student. At least in this case, this cramped and inadequate building did not prevent BASIS students from performing at an exceedingly high level.
This is dramatic evidence that what goes on inside school buildings is much more important than the size or the cost of the building. When North Carolina’s adults learn this fundamental lesson, North Carolina’s students will then and only then reap the high levels of educational performance they deserve.
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