This brings to mind the problem with a monopoly. They are not naturally encouraged and so not used to adjusting to market forces and so are stuck with outdated or unnecessary equipment, facilities and even personnel that can be tremendously wasteful but still must be maintained at, sometimes great expense.

[Commissioner Curtis Adams] said some schools should be closed to deal with declining enrollments. Also, he said he thinks too many magnet schools have opened.

''They have started too many programs,'' Adams said. ''What I know is they don't handle the money properly. We need some old-fashioned, tough management.''

Hamilton commissioners and county school board members have openly bickered over county funding for schools.

''We catch a lot of h***, when you talk about raising taxes of 115,000 property owners,'' Adams said.

(snip)

[Joe Dumas, of Signal Mountain, is a member of the Nashville-based Tennessee Tax Revolt], a computer science professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, said Hamilton County schools are not underfunded. He said funding has increased and enrollment has dropped.

''I think they are poorly managed,'' Dumas said. ''I think a majority of the citizens just don't trust the people who are running the schools.'' From the Jackson Sun.

I think Mr. Dumas is correct. Until schools start providing clear and unbiased information it will remain very difficult for taxpayers and parents to correctly discern what the problems are, let alone figure out solutions. Until schools quit giving lip service to accountability and embrace their responsibility to prove their needs and accomplishments parties are going to remain at odds.