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February 2009 – Pennsylvania School District Consolidation
March 5, 2009 | | 2 Comments
February 2009
Superintendent’s Blog
Pennsylvania School District Consolidation
On the day that Governor Rendell unveiled the 2009-10 education budget, I received several phone calls from the newspapers and TV stations. The basic question was “what are my thoughts of the governor’s proposal to move from 500 school districts to 100?” Since I was not watching the governor’s presentation, I was caught off guard with the concept of District Consolidation of this scale.
Over the past several years, there have been various attempts to move districts towards sharing of services. Currently, the Intermediate Units (IU’s) provide a wide variety of services to districts throughout the Commonwealth. Here is a list of some available services: Administrative and Cooperative Business Services, Center for Schools and Community, Educational Initiatives, Employee and Community Relations, Outreach Programs and Corrections Education, Professional Development and School Improvement, Special Education and Early Childhood, and Technology. Each district within the IU is afforded the opportunity to take advantage of the services provided as is sees fit for their district.
Another approach by the governor’s office was the Common Sense Initiative (CSI). Through the CSI, school boards would have to vote in the affirmative to take part in the project. Once in CSI, the Department of Education would send a team to evaluate the school district and determine where cuts could be made. One major issue with CSI was whatever suggestions were made by PDE would have to be implemented by the district.
Below I have outlined the Pennsylvania School District Consolidation Facts for you review:
o Governor Rendell proposed to create a legislative commission to study how best to right-size Pennsylvania’s local school districts. His goal is to have no more than 100 school districts.
o Full-scale school consolidation provides a very effective way to relieve the local property tax burden all across Pennsylvania. There is no need to maintain 500 separate school districts across the state – each with its own staggering, and growing, administrative costs.
o Reducing the number of school districts would not necessitate the closure of individual schools, but could instead improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public education through other means.
o Only 10 states in the nation have more school districts than Pennsylvania, while many of the highest-achieving states are organized into far fewer school districts in order to achieve greater efficiencies and improve the delivery of quality educational services.
o More than 40 percent of Pennsylvania’s school districts currently educate fewer than 2,000 students and over 80 percent of the school districts educate fewer than 5,000 students, requiring significant bureaucracy while raising questions about the diversity of courses offered to students.
o Consolidation is not a new idea in Pennsylvania: in 1955, there were 2,700 separate school districts before the General Assembly authorized consolidations statewide. Within two years, the number of separate districts fell to 1,900. By 1962, the number of separate school districts fell to 600, and as of July there will be 500 school districts statewide.
o The proposed commission would have 12 voting members appointed by the General Assembly:
· Three members of the Senate of Pennsylvania appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate;
· Three members of the Senate of Pennsylvania appointed by the minority leader of the Senate;
· Three members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives appointed by the speaker of the House; and
· Three members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives appointed by the minority leader of the House.
o It would also have two non-voting members who serve ex-officio:
· The Secretary of Education; and
· The chairman of the State Board of Education.
o The proposed commission would have one year to develop a plan for the reorganization of school districts. It would be responsible for determining the optimal enrollment size, new statewide boundaries, and an implementation plan.
o To ensure progress is made, the Governor proposed that the commission adopt up to two merger plans. After a period of public comment, the General Assembly would be required to give an “up or down” vote to each commission consolidation plan within six months.
o If the General Assembly rejects both plans, the law would vest authority for consolidating school districts with the State Board of Education.
Some comments on the information listed from the Consolidation Facts. The committee has no representation from Pennsylvania School Boards Association, Pennsylvania System Educators Association, and Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.
Several studies have been conducted looking at district consolidation. One was conducted by Standards and Poor which outlined that the optimal district size for efficiency was 3,500 students. A second study by Andrew Coulson found similar number at 3,000 students. With the number of students in public education currently at 170,000 in Pennsylvania, if the 500 districts went to 100 the districts that would allow an average size of 17,000 students per district.
A couple of questions that consolidation would raise: what would happen to the taxes in the larger districts? Districts that have lower milage rates consolidate with a district of larger milage rates; one would see a decrease in taxes and the other an increase. How can the teacher and support contracts be consolidated? What is the academic benefit of consolidation?
If you have feelings about this issue contact your local legislator or let me know so I can respond to them.
Comments
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I have considered this issue carefully. Back in 1967, when Northumberland Joint Schools merged with Sunbury Area Schools, it took a few years for “Owls and Pineknotters” to make peace as “Braves,” but most students recognized that the combination of resources afforded better opportunities for all.
That was then. Now, with so much available online, I’m not so sure consolidation will benefit students that much. In fact, once there are enough computer stations, we should see huge savings in texts and publications. The concern I would have is whether bussing would become a burdensome cost or not. Consolidation of sports teams could be a plus, but fewer kieds would see a chance to be “best.” Administrative costs for districts can be hancled by the district with creative spending policies, full-time grant-writers, etc. Taxes, being a percentage of rising values should not have to increase, if spending is wise.
Nope, I don’t believe further consolidation is very wise, unless it be in geographically close communities – and even then, the number of “top o’the class” kids goes…
On the other hand, if the CSIU becomes the new school district, the CSIU would no longer be needed, Hmmm… Now that’s a lot of money re-directed to the district!