It is not uncommon for institutions that receive public funding to replace things that are not broken in order to avoid budget surpluses that could decrease their funding the following year.

Yep, can confirm. I worked in requisitions in a maintenance shop in the military, and September was always a ridiculous time.

"Hey, we have $120,000 to spend. Make it happen." I would then go to the different section chiefs and ask what they needed as spares. Some were reasonable requests, others were ridiculous. If we didn't spend the money, the budget would decrease the next year, and it would be hell getting that money back when a really expensive part died.

The hilarious thing is that the Inspector General's office is responsible for preventing this thing from happening... but if you go talk to their requisitions personnel around September, they're doing the exact same shit as everyone else.

Which is why governments and large companies ought to be using zero-based budgeting.

By the shape of the hole around the old chalkboard, I would say it was a size upgrade.

Of course they are. And they're all going to be replaced by insipid whiteboards.

Nothing is wrong with whiteboards. I;d evem say they're better. No inhaling chalk dust, dusty erasers, looks clearer, more erasible by common materials, the list goes on.

The list goes on? That's a pretty picture but what I notice about whiteboards is they have their own dry erase dust, the markers require maintenance and often are dry, and ghosting eventually makes the whiteboard look gross. A second order complaint is that the markers smell.

The expense for markers alone has GOT to be many multiples of that for chalk. And chalk doesn't dry out if a kid leaves the cap off, and isn't really damaged by heavy pressure during use (it does break if dropped, though -- I remember teachers using chalk holders to help prevent this).

I agree - the only good thing I can say about chalkboards is that they're something like an order of magnitude cheaper.

You can teach maths on a blackboard. Can't teach maths on a whiteboard.

Don't ask me to explain it, but it's true.

Blackboards do seem better for math and whiteboards better for compsci, oddly

That surprised me too. In my schools the chalkboards were erased every night (except for anything marked "save") and the custodians would damp-wipe them every few days for an extra thorough cleaning. I wonder if they deliberately DIDN'T clean them, intentionally creating a sort of impromptu time capsule.