The Wallace Line: Private Funding Sought for Science Center

Not that you didn’t hear about this before . . .

I hate to say it. I really do. No, really I hate to say this thing that I hate to say. The thing that nobody wanted to listen to me about. The thing that . . . oh H-E-double-hockey-sticks . . . I was RIGHT as RAIN about.

In this afternoon’s FortBendNow, out comes David Wallace with the bombshell that I thought would have been delivered in about, oh . . .say, three weeks from now.

“We have had talks with private businesses and institutions that have expressed interest in the possibilities of forming collaborative partnerships to help fund the center. If we could move in that direction, we believe the center could be funded without any need to raise taxes, or take away resources already allocated for other district purposes.”

So let me translate.

In order to fund the construction of the proposed Fort Bend ISD Global Science and Technology Center, the district is looking for external sources and “collaborative partnerships.” That is, the plan is that no public funds will be involved in the construction of this center. No money to buy copy paper, no money to buy textbooks will be used to fund this “Taj Mahal.”

Gee, no kidding.

So my read of Ms. Bhuchar’s comments and cautions to her opponent had some degree of validity after all.

Why, a reader wrote in the comments section to the blog posting in question, would the district construct a “sales pitch” to the public if they already had the funds lined up?

Why indeed. Maybe they didn’t, and the feasibility study was conducted to find out if they would have it. Or maybe the “red herring” was well-played. Who knows what the truth is.

One thing is for sure, with this announcement coming out one month before Election Day rather than one week before, we will all now get to witness how or whether there is a realignment in argument. My question, asked in the previous blog is still timely:

“My question, then, is this: if the funding is found, and the Global Science and Technology Center is planned and built with this private sector funding, is there any further objection to the project? Private sector funds in this case would never be used to buy textbooks, copier paper, or pay salaries of teachers. These funds are donated with the express purpose of seeing this thing gets done.”

So the question remains: is there any further objection to the project?

And if there are now new objections to the project, where were they before?

Are we willing to look a gift horse in the mouth? Even if the gift horse will have to be called the Taj MaSchlumberger? The Fluorapalooza?