Six months ago, a school bond proposal failed. Now we are asked to vote on another one. What new facts are offered in support of the current proposal?

Interest rates are low. True six months ago.

The construction industry is hurting, so we can get a good bid. True six months ago.

Education is important. True six months ago.

The schooneeds repair and updating. True six months ago.

So what is the difference from the current proposal and the one from six months ago?

The price per building has risen. With a $55 million bond and minimum of $6.4 in sales tax, the average minimum price per school is more than $12.2 million.

Six months ago, the average maximum price per building was less than $10.8 million.

Now the Ames Community School District Board of Directors is disregarding the consultants’ recommendations to close Fellows, build in Somerset and build three-unit schools. Instead, the Board is proposing that we spend the most money on the school with the lowest percentage of free lunches. Fellows is the only four-unit school in the plans. The school board appears to be using the Goldman-Sachs “Too-Big-To-Fail” approach. If we spend the biggest chunk of money to build a school that can hold up to 700 children, guess, which school is guaranteed to stay open?

The school superintendent and two board members have spoken favorably of having only four elementary schools in Ames. If I were a Mitchell or Sawyer parent, I would wonder how much money is planned for my school and how secure its future really is.

The school board can write a better plan that treats all children and neighborhoods fairly, that doesn’t require extensive and expensive busing to one mega-school and that doesn’t rely on “Too-Big-To-Fail.” We’ve already seen how that approach works for taxpayers.