$60 Million... and Worth Every Penny

A model of the to-be-built Eagles Stadium


The city of Allen, Texas is spending $60 million on a new high school football stadium

The knee-jerk reaction in most of the media has been condemnation, horror, shock, etc.

Not enough people outside of Texas seem to understand this will be a terrific boon for local businesses and workers. Plus, the same high school is also spending about as much on a performing arts center.

And here's the biggest part of the story in my opinion: Allen can pay for it!

More and more cities and school districts in America are going bankrupt these days and teachers unions and their pensions are big reason why.

Long ago, Texas set aside billions for its schools when it created a fund that funnels a low percentage of oil and gas profits into education.

That fund is why Texas can spend about $600 million on textbooks every year.

It's also why athletics get a great share of the other funds that other school systems would need just to keep the lights on in the classrooms.

The overall quality of education in Texas public schools is debatable. But one thing I'm not willing to debate is the absurd notion that a lot more money solely for education would make much of a difference.

Good students come from good, concerned parents and competent teachers. With any one of these key elements, schools and students fail. Higher pay and union tenure don't necessarily make for better teachers.

As for football and what's going on in Allen, I think this is a great thing. People will get jobs, the football team will thrive, the band program will thrive, local businesses savvy enough to take advantage of this new structure will thrive. Is this really bad? Or are we only supposed to cheer unsustainable "green jobs" and temporary Census work?