The Ghost of Reckless Spending Past was visited once again in Horizon division boardroom meetings last month, as trustees got an updated look at the books as of June 30 this year.
It was one more painful reminder of the clawbacks Horizon had to endure because of being fiscally responsible, accumulating reserves for a rainy day.
As the economic balloon burst  with the world-wide financial meltdown near the end of the last decade the provincial government felt the brunt as well.
Educational institutions across the province who were accustomed to receiving “X” amount of dollars found government all of the sudden not in such a giving mood.
And those boards spending money as quickly as it came in found themselves dug into deficits they could not claw themselves out of with the lack of government funds.
Understandably, Horizon has been frustrated it is being penalized for being fiscally frugal, while others are in essence being rewarded for excess spending levels, in what amounts to a shell game of allotted dollars. In essence, the updated educational grasshopper’s behaviour was encouraged over the ant’s.
Horizon, in its past, has had to slave away storing dollars for fiscally-cold winters of deficits of unsupported debt to pay off, only to see the rules change in the game to support larger urban school boards who are in essence, like its business brethren, too big to fail.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to education money in that it should be spent as quickly as it comes in to ensure as quality of an education as you can get for your hard-working, tax-paying citizens.
But every school board needs a closer examination of those expenditures, much like your average household needs in tougher economic times.
There are needs and wants in every aspect of life, and educational needs are no different. There are the basic needs of education like buildings that have adequate room and do not leak and a suitable workforce to teach young minds.
While wants are nice to have to spruce up basic educational needs, it can not come at a danger of overextending yourself. Those school boards who naively thought  the Alberta boom was going to last forever should have to pay the piper at some point.