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For sale by owner. East Lansing Schools, that is. Seriously. OK maybe its just a few buildings and not the whole district. But when a district like East Lansing can’t make ends meet, you know there is something serious going on with education funding. The cuts to funding might be more stomach-able if they were fair. But, with the debt-ceiling deal struck over the weekend that cuts spending without raising revenues, one has to question how fair it really is.

I read in the New York Times on Thursday that “If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?” This was a quote in an article about sales of luxury goods that further stated: “Even with the economy in a funk and many Americans pulling back on spending, the rich are again buying designer clothing, luxury cars and about anything that catches their fancy. Many high-end businesses are even able to mark up, rather than discount, items to attract customers who equate quality with price…”

Seriously, who notices? How many pairs of designer shoes does it take to support a child in public school? If the expenditure per pupil in East Lansing schools is $5,749, then 6.7 pairs of shoes.