The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper. We welcome supporting or opposing views on any published item. Received September 22, 2026.
Philip Devlin’s recent article in the HK News states that “more than a dozen building projects in the district from 1948 to present is just over $40 million.” However, he has not adjusted that number for inflation, making his statement nonsensical. For example, his first building expense listed was $395,000 for the original “Junior High” in 1958 (the 1948 cost of HES or KES is not provided for some reason). Corrected for inflation, that would be $4.58 million today. Burr School cost $1.6 million in 1969, which is $14.6 million today. The 1975 cost of the junior-Senior high school in 1975 was $12.9 million, or $80 million today. And even the most recent addition, the HK Middle school cost $48.3 million in 2007, which would be $77.8 million today! And he also doesn’t address the additional increase in building costs resulting from today’s tariffs on building supplies.
Yes, we’re being asked for a lot of money to remake our high school. But it is far from the “almost two times the total cost of all school construction work from 1948 to present.” Not even close!
Scott MacDonald, Higganum
