Press-Register on Bishop State's Best Grill:

Two-year college system Chancellor Bradley Byrne recognizes a financial sinkhole when he sees one. He recently ordered the permanent closing of Bishop State Community College's Best Grill, a "culinary laboratory" that cooked up an astonishing $1.7 million in losses in a few years.

The decision to close the restaurant was a no-brainer. Responsible public officials don't throw away wads of public money.

But the end of this educational experiment that failed miserably leaves two perplexing questions: How did the Best Grill lose so much money in just four years? And why didn't former Bishop State President Yvonne Kennedy and her administration act quickly to stop the program from hemorrhaging scarce college funds?

The Best Grill's mission was to give students in Bishop State's culinary arts program an opportunity to acquire real-world experience in the food service business. The idea had merit, but the execution evidently was so flawed the restaurant provided few educational benefits for students.

Chancellor Byrne offered this damning judgment:

"It was losing half a million dollars a year, and I didn't see that it had any significant educational function."

Under the circumstances, the chancellor was wise to redirect $1.8 million allocated for the culinary program to technical programs at the college. Bishop State needs to bolster its workforce training programs to meet the growing demand for skilled workers in the economically vibrant Mobile area.

The restaurant's woes were just one item on a long list of problems inherited by interim President James Lowe and his transition team. Chancellor Byrne deserves credit for quickly removing the Best Grill from the list so that the interim president can concentrate on even more pressing concerns, such as the threatened loss of the college's accreditation and an ongoing criminal investigation involving the alleged theft of financial aid.