One of the smarter moves we have made is free secondary education for everyone regardless of gender, race, nationality or even ability to learn.

Our belief is that our future depends on educated people making sensible decisions.

Unfortunately, like many well-intentioned objectives, many mandated governmental programs are open to abuse.

That may be what is going on in public education, from preschool to graduate school.

Public education has become a booming industry with no market controls. We are going to pay for it whether we like the price it costs or not.

An example of this is the 2 school bond referendums.

In Lexington 1 in the Gilbert, Lexington and Pelion, voters passed a $365 million bond issue to build 2 new elementary schools, replace 3 schools and expand and renovate 20 others.

In Lexington 3 in Batesburg-Leesville, voters rejected a $90 million bond to build a new high school and renovate the Primary school.

The difference may have been that an organized opposition to a smaller bond got out its vote.

There was little if any opposition to Lexington 1’s bond.

We don’t question the aims of either bond issue. The planning was done by professional educators with the advice of architects with school-building expertise.

We can’t help but wonder why all of these Lexington 1 schools have been allowed to fall into such disrepair that this much taxpayer money will be needed to make them habitable again.

We also wonder about the compensation of educators, not their ability or experience.

Dr. Greg Little in Lexington 1 is the county’s highest paid public educator. His board just lifted his pay to $209,482 plus thousands more in benefits.

The lowest paid superintendent in the county was Dr. Linda Lavender in Lexington 4 in Gaston and Swansea. She left earning $146,168 plus benefits.

Top assistants earn more than $100,000 – far more than most local taxpayers earn. Can we afford all this high-priced talent?

- JerryBellune@yahoo.com