The biggest problem with public education is the physical form of the current school distribution. Put simply, it is the disappearance of the neighborhood school.

It is extremely difficult for parents to be involved in their children’s education when both parents need to work — and when the schools are no where near within walking distance of the student’s homes.

These two phenomena, so often overlooked in school district planning, are intrinsically linked. They combine to make life in a community much more expensive than it needs to be.

School district administration pay only appears excessive, when compared to the disproportionately low pay of the actual teachers. When these salaries are compared to peer positions in other fields (with similar budget and HR responsibilities) they are actually on the low-side.

What’s the solution? Actually start building & staffing neighborhood schools that kids can walk to. Let parents actually have an opportunity to cut their work hours, so they can be more involved in their childrens’ education.

In public planning circles there is far too much emphasis on trying to forge a Jobs/Housing balance in order to reduce commute lengths. But, trips to & from schools (by parents who are forced to drive their kids around to these basic needs) account for far more trips on the public roads than trips to work.

If public schools were better funded, and better planned to ensure walkability, trips during morning rush hour could be reduced by far more than any other means.

The center of every walkable neighborhood should be a public school, not some ersatz mixed-use, transit-oriented “lifestyle” center.

This means investing in EDUCATION, to ensure that our kids will have every opportunity to capitalize on their native intelligence. Grow local businesses from the ground up by building the best and brightest workforce & company owners in the country.

Public education, kindergarten through university, is the single best investment of meager tax revenues — it’s actually the only expenditure that gives back to the community in the form of higher wage earnings and more successful businesses.

The Boise elephant is Dumbo the baby elephant. The BIG elephant in the room may not even be the “federal” elephant but rather the world elephant.

Even in countries that still make stuff – like China – they are following the lead of our “elected representatives” (I use the phrase very loosely), and are pouring billions of nonexistent “stimulus dollars” into the black hole. The resultant “economic recovery” is as bogus as that shiny stuff our ski mountain was named after. I’m worried that it’s just a matter of time before the other shoe drops, and even the people who have money will wake up and discover their money no longer has value.

But I’m no economist, and I pray that I’m wrong.

(I’m sure grateful that the state Constitution, and local laws, require the books to be balanced. Even though we have clueless weasels who try to get around those pesky rules at every turn. After all, the taxpayers are the goose that keeps laying golden eggs.)

Developers expect “entitlement money” from cities to underwrite their projects. Entitlement money is another word for a FREEBIE courtesy of taxpayers.

I welcome developers who want to pay their way and be a good civic partner, others please go somewhere else.

Even though government has the laws and the guns to take our money away, the goose is cooked and mostly gone. Those of you in government will see many more pink slips and smaller checks and older pick-ups and squeaky old office chairs and old slow computers and most importantly, efficiency and accountability.

Then with that monkey off our back, we can start to rebuild an economy again based of stuff that brings money in or generates it, rather than just counting and taxing the same dollar each time it comes around the circle.

Still a whole bunch of heads in rectums however, they think taking my money away and then giving some of it back is call a stimulus. So it will be several more years yet before a true recovery takes place.