William Marvel: Apostles of Congestion

Fourteen years ago next month, two local residents collaborated in the promotion of "educational excellence" in Conway. One of them, a real-estate agent, was fairly transparent about wanting to sell more homes, and he essentially contended that people would be more interested in buying houses in towns where the schools had a reputation for spending more money. Their efforts may have contributed to the passage of the teachers' contract that year.

Soon afterward, the academic performance of Conway schools started on a downward slide that has continued ever since. The "educational excellence" initiative may not have been the cause, but it did reflect the tendency to arbitrary, uncritical budget increases that encourage institutional apathy, leaving neither consequences for failure nor incentives for improvement.