This well-told human interest story casts the public sector as uniquely free of corruption, tightly controlled, and utterly accountable at all times. There is a further implication that school districts are isolated islands, so bad stuff would tend not to travel. So, we have a unique situation, and everyone can see it got caught and solved and we can go back to watching True Blood. The lead in to the show claims this is the largest embezzlement of its kind, which I absolutely doubt. So, here is the truth: under IDEAL conditions, the vast majority of governmental units operate on a spend it or lose it budget mentality. This drives up taxes eternally. In addition, sweetheart deals, which have reached outrageous levels at the federal level due to omnibus voting strategies (where pork is simply invisible) are certainly a form of gigantic embezzlement. Then you get congressperson after congressperson who enters office a near pauper and becomes a millionaire and then a multi-millionaire. There are actual embezzlement scandals within the IRS and USDA periodically. And none of this, none of this, is a quarter of a million dollars. We can only wish it was.
Review of Bad Education
