At a meeting I attended earlier this week, I heard someone talk about state funding available as “money on the table to be had.”

In this instance, they were talking about EXCEL (Expanding our Children’s Education and Learning) Aid available to school districts for capital projects through the State Education Department, but I have heard other forms of aid referred to in a similar way.

Is it unbridled optimism or naiveté that causes people to jump for joy when they hear about opportunities for state or federal funding for a project? I, for one, am a little more skeptical.

Sure, I’d like to believe in that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow standing at the ready to build whatever your little heart desires. But in the case of government dollars, I just can’t.

This is not “free money.” It has to come from somewhere.

When local school boards refer to projects as “aidable,” they are talking about state money available to fund programs or facility improvements in the district. They consider this funding “free,” because it doesn’t have to come from tapping deeper into the local tax rolls.