Highway Robbery Down In North Carolina?

Ouch. It looks like things are going to get a lot more expensive for students who drive their cars to public high schools in Vance County, North Carolina: (emphasis added)

Students may soon be paying at least $80 more to park at the county's two high schools if the Board of Education implements a new proposal.

Two members of the school board's Buildings and Grounds Committee approved raising the annual parking fee from $20 to at least $100 at a meeting Thursday morning. The proposal will be discussed by the Finance Committee Monday morning and could be voted on by the full school board Aug. 8.

The increased fees are expected to net the district some $40,000.

Now let me see if I can understand this: Residents who live in the community pay the taxes to build the school in the first place. The school imposes a moderate fee of $20.00 on students who want to drive to school, which covers the price of a permit and parking lot maintenance. The district has decided that it wants to pave the parking lots and needs additional income in order to make that happen.

Fair enough.

But take a look at school board member L. Nelson "Pete" Falkner's rationale for raising the fees by such a large amount: (Falkner introduced the motion to raise the fees.)

"If they're able to buy a car, they're able to pay $100," the school board member said. He noted that many students' vehicles sport rims, or stylized hubcaps. An automobile costs $20,000 to $50,000, he said, "and all of them got nice cars. I'm not against the children, but business is business."

I guess in "Pete" Falkner's World, all high school students drive expensive cars. I wonder how the kiddies obtained such costly rides? Could "they" have bought those "nice cars" costing between $20 and $50 grand with money earned by saying, "Would you like fries with that?"

Maybe "Pete" would be willing to share with all of us who drove old and rusted clunkers to school exactly what is the secret for "all of them" [kids] getting those "nice cars" that he is talking about. -----------------------------View the latest edition of The Carnival Of Education, guest hosted by Jenny D, over there. See entry guidelines for the next edition, right here.

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