Lisbon's Costly Education System by Joe Hill

The last few months of this budget season have been a strain on all of Lisbon. There are good people on both sides of this issue. People truly believe their views are correct and the opposition just doesn't see the whole story. 

One comment I hear regularly is that 10 to 11 thousand dollars per student isn't an excessive amount to spend on a child in our school system.  I would like to show you why I feel this is an outrageous figure for one child's education.

I know of at least three private schools in or close to the Lisbon border that charge a small fraction of what we spend on educating a child in our public schools.

The Open Door Bible School charges $1700 dollars plus a little more for some books.

The Christian Academy in Lisbon charges $2400 dollars for tuition and has been around for almost 40 years. 

There is another School on 196 that charges $3300 dollars in tuition.

All of these schools educate their students as well or better than Lisbon Schools.

Can anyone tell me why our schools cost the taxpayer  3 to 7 times as much as schools that arguably give a better education.   Has anyone even wondered why.   

We could give a $1,000 dollar scholarship to any student that wants to transfer to these private schools and still save money for the town. (Lisbon taxpayers contribute about $5,000 dollars to each child's education in Lisbon public schools) At the very least why aren't we examining these schools and finding out why it costs thousands of dollars more per child for us to do the same job they are doing.

Anyone that thinks our school system is bare bones needs to ask themselves these questions.

Respectfully
Joe Hill