After a lot of preparation on both sides, it appears that the fight over land acquisition for schools will be coming to a climax over the next few months. Several members of the Board of Supervisors (and a few School Board members) have made their beliefs known—the county should be in charge of purchasing land for school construction, not the school system or the School Board.
There are perfectly valid arguments both for and against the proposal and we are likely to be hearing most of them repeated to us.
This perspective is not a new one. It was whispered about during the failed Lenah Run purchase and is now stated outright after the western Loudoun outrage over the failed purchase in Wheatlands. From a certain perspective, merging land acquisition into one entity makes a lot of sense. The county is already purchasing land for other functions. County staff have a closer day-to-day exposure to landowners. The Board of Supervisors has to approve the expenditure anyway.
Alternatively, the schools have a much clearer idea on the needs necessary in building a school—the necessary acreage and facility requirements. While the school system may appear less responsive to the public at large, this is not always a negative as public pressure from a vocal minority might not be so effective against the school system. While there have been some notable failures in land purchases by the School Board (Wheatlands and Lenah Run), there have been as many problematic purchases by the Board of Supervisors (Fields Farm and the Islamic Academy property.) To be fair, neither of the Board purchases was conducted by the current board, but when you are discussing a permanent change in policy it should be acknowledged that most of the future purchases will be conducted by the successors of the current Board. This type of policy decision needs to be made by examining the position instead of the people currently occupying the position.
Both the School Board and the Board of Supervisors should consider what their position would be if it were being given to their opponent in the last election.
Perhaps the biggest reason to leave the land purchase decision with the schools is theoretical. Separation of Powers is one of the keynote principals in American government, one we all learned about in school. There is a distrust of focusing too much legislative and governing power in one institution. It is not always the most efficient option, but it’s the one least likely to result in abuse. The fact that it is frustrating to one (or both) of our respective boards may mean that it is working properly.
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agree to many points - so why not let County head search for parcels, obtain LCPS' construction depts input on final list of sites and then County negotiate contract? given our budget issues, one of the most important things this County needs to do is operate more efficiently. one clear way to do that is to merge duplicative departments. it makes sense to go after the depts that have not been cost effective. arguably LCPS' site acquisition dept headed by SAdamo tops that list.