If you watch You Tube there are multiple videos on lists and one of many is what School Districts do to make up for lack of state and local funding. Even though one of the major costs of schooling is teacher salaries and benefits, legislators often find it easy to cut funding to public schools. School and school boards then have to do something to make up for the money. Some of the solutions which have been implemented include:

cheating school test scores. Everyone wants our children to be the best educated they can and an incentive from states is the higher the student scores, the more funding the school receives. Taken to the logical conclusion, principals wish to have high scores for standardized tests. If the results are less than expected, schools cheat to push up the marks and get funding.

neglecting repairs – buildings eventually need to be repaired. The same as your home will need on going repairs. A fund should be available for the repairs, but most people do not and begin to put off the repairs. The first year is probably not going to do too much damage, but second and third and fourth and soon the minor repair is a major repair. Many school districts keep leaving in until a new school is needed.

advertisements – the school population of kids appeals to many companies and if the kids can be convinced of leaning towards a brand when they are young, by the time they are adults they will be loyal to the brand. Young people try multiple brands, adults tend to stick to the ones they are used to. Many schools have as many advertisements as you see in Times Square in New York. In Times Square there is a building which has no tenants but a great location and the ads pay for the maintenance of the building. Hopefully the schools receive good rates for the advertisements.

bus service fees – at one time bus service was available for children that lived greater than 3 miles from a school and was free. School boards are charging for the bus service.

renting school property outside of school hours – sometimes the local school allows for the parking lot to be rented out. It is harder now because of rules who can be on school property during the day, but if the school is looked at as asset, creative solutions can be used.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if your company has land and buildings and you do not see on going repairs or a budget allocated to it, then you should be worried. It is easy to neglect the small things when money is tight, but they can develop in major costs. As a profit-making company, you expect your company to do all it can in terms of regular maintenance and not charging excessive fees. If it does, then it is time to seek alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.