Tale of Two High Schools, Part II
On May 30 of last week, we growled about the cost of Fauquier County's third high school (1,500 students) being significantly less than Arlington's replacement of Washington-Lee (1,600). A third high school can now be added to the comparison, i.e., Alexandria's new T.C. Williams High School (2,500 students, press release) that just broke ground last November. A comparison of the cost of the three schools are:
Washington-Lee/$95.2 million/cost per student seat -- $59,500
Fauquier's 3rd H.S./$50.6 million/cost per student seat -- $33.733
T.C. Williams/$88 million/cost per student seat -- $35,200
There are legitimate reasons for the differences, e.g., the new W-L will have a 10-lane swimming pool, more classrooms, LEED certification, etc. However, we will ask the School Board to provide a cost comparison that provides transparency so that Arlington taxpayers understand whether or not the School Board is building will be built of ordinary brick and mortar or whether it will indeed be deserving of being called a Taj Mahal.