[written by Ditto]

Some of the cvillain readership includes parents with young children, right? I have a question. Why is there so little mention of the great honor paid to Western Albemarle High School, Virginia L. Murray Elementary School and Greenbriar Elementary School, schools selected by Governor Kaine for the Educational Excellence Award. These schools were recognized for “exceeding minimum state and federal accountability standards” and for “students …soaring far beyond the minimum requirements of the Standards of Learning and No Child Left Behind.” I want to see the celebration…I want to see the coverage. Could it be that our local media just only want to print/talk the negative when it comes to public schools? Could it be that it is not considered politically correct to distinguish only one of our local high schools? (Only 12 high schools were chosen from the entire state of Virginia) Or, name only two local elementary schools? Or, maybe ‘powers that be’ don’t want to hurt the burgeoning private school businesses? Why the silence?

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Seth Rosen, from the Daily Progress, reports:

But there are divisions over the merits of going a step further and building an expensive bus rapid transit system with dedicated lanes on U.S. 29. Though a fleet of sleek, larger buses speeding down exclusive lanes would shrink travel time and make transit a more attractive option, it would cost up to $138 million to lay down the asphalt and build the infrastructure.

Currently, only 2% of Albemarle County residents and 5% of City residents ride the bus to work. While a fancy bus system may benefit a small few, this sounds like an insane amount of money to spend on something. I’m all for public transportation, but how much would usage increase if we had a top tier bus system?

Slutzky, a Supervisor, tells the Daily Progress:

Even if we had to fund it ourselves, we can afford it, $138 million sounds like a big number when you put it out there by itself, but when you put it in context, it is quite doable.

Are they going to get the money from those “increases” in real estate assessments?

[via Daily Progress] [pic]