Get the money: School district, county making right move to get lottery funds

If we don't need it, we shouldn't waste it, but we do, so it is time to ask for it.

The fact that Wayne County's school officials have decided to start drawing down on the state lottery funds is a welcome sign.

The precariousness of the state's budget as well as the increasing call for more cuts in services and funding make any money sitting in a fund anywhere fair game.

And now that the county has a plan to get started on the facilities work -- and both the schools and commissioners are working together toward that end -- now is the time to get what we are owed and what we need to start making our schools a better place for students to learn.

The initial draw is not huge -- just a few million -- but it will be a good start toward turning talking about repairs and new construction into reality.

And that is the right move.

This is an uncommon economy in a rather worrisome year. Getting busy with school projects might be all we need to do to protect the money.

And then again, who knows.

School and county officials are right to push the process along -- just in case.

Published in Editorials on February 2, 2009 10:47 AM