By Staff
Monday night, the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners defeated a motion to withhold funding for a new library at John Cotten Tayloe Elementary School. Commissioner Hood Richardson proposed that the funding be delayed until the county could study the capacity of all county schools.
That’s not an unreasonable request in the big picture, but given the school’s critical need for the library and playroom, the board was correct to allocate the money now.
The county’s school system presented the board with a plan to use more than $500,000 earmarked for construction funding to build a new library and playroom for Tayloe. Board of Education Chairman Robert Belcher told the commissioners the project has long been needed at the school.
The school’s current library consists of two classrooms with a knocked-out dividing wall that serves between 550 and 600 students.
We can’t think of a better way to enhance any school than with a library.
The Board of Commissioners is absolutely justified to closely examine spending priorities from the jurisdictions it oversees, but in this case allocating money for a library and playroom will prove beneficial for many years to come.