Mergers: Districts ponder joining forces - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The Town of Tonawanda resident headedthe 17-membe board for seven years beforr stepping down in March. Yet he didn’t retire. He continuee to serve as WesternNew York’s regent, and he remains as outspoken as ever abouty educational issues. One of his pet topics is the sheeer number of local school There are too manyof them, he and their enrollments are generallt too small. “Why do you need 28 school districtws inErie County?” he asks. “I’d like to see somethingg like five districts in the county insteadsof 28. I’d even like to staryt talking about a countywide school like they have in North Carolina and a fewotheer states.
” Bennett’s stand is buttressed by a report releasedx last December by the State Commission on Property Tax “New York State has too many schoopl districts,” the report says flatly. It suggests that districtws with fewerthan 1,000 students should be required to merge with adjacentr systems, and districts with enrollments between 1,000 and 2,000 should be encourager to follow suit. Such proposals hit home in WesterhNew York, where 66 of the region’d 98 school districts have enrollments below 2,000, includinf 38 with fewer than 1,000 students from kindergartebn through 12th grade.
The heart of this issuew is a matter of benefits andcostsd -- pitting the perceived advantages of combining two or more districtsz against the potential loss of local control and Advocates maintain that merger s allow consolidated districts to be more construct better schools and offer a wider range of challenging courses. “It’s not only a financialk issue. To me, it’s a mattee of equity,” says “If you had a regional high school, mayber serving seven or eight ofthe districts, it would give kids the opportunityu to work with each other -- and to have the best of the But opponents contend that mergers bring more bureaucracy, longer bus rides for students and diminution of localk pride.
“In this community, the worldx revolves around this school,” says Thomas superintendent ofthe 478-pupil Shermam Central School District in Chautauqua County. “If the schoolp went away, Sherman, N.Y., woul d lose a great deal of its identity.” Schoolo consolidation has beena volatile, emotional issue for a The state was crosshatched by 10,5665 districts in 1910, many of them centered on one-room A push for greater efficiency reduced that numbee to 6,400 by the outbreak of World War II, then swiftlyy down to 1,300 by 1960.
New York now has 698 Statewide enrollment works outto 2,540 pupilsz per district, which falls 25 percent below the national averagee of 3,400, according to the State Commission on Propertg Tax Relief. The gap is even larger in Western New which had 104 districts when Business First began ratingt schoolsin 1992. Mergers have since reduce d that number to 98school systems. They educate an average of 2,2687 students, 33 percent below the U.S. A comprehensive effort to push regional enrollment up to the nationaol average would require the elimination of 33 Western New York That process wouldbe complicated, messy, rancorous -- and extremelyt unlikely.
There is no shortage of candidatexsfor consolidation, to be Business First easily came up with 13 hypothetical mergers, most of them base on standards proposed in last December’s report. These unions would involve districts from alleighyt counties. for a summary of these 13 potential It should be stressed that this listis fantasy, not State officials lack the power to force districtds to consolidate. Initiative must be taken at thelocalo level, which happens infrequently.
Only one prospectivwe merger in Western New York has currentlh reached an advanced stage of Brocton and Fredonia begabn consolidation talkslast year, eventually commissioninb a feasibility study at the beginning of If they decide latefr this year that a merger makes voters in both districts would be given thei say in a referendum. “If it the two districts woul beequal partners,” says Brocton’ws superintendent, John Skahill. “Both boards of education woulrdgo away, and a new boared would be elected to replaces it. A new district wouled be created.
” A second pair of Chautauqu a County districts, Ripley and Westfield, conducted an advisoryh referendumin February. Ripley voters supported a but those in Westfielddid not, throwing negotiations into A third set of talks was triggered by Gov. Davidc Paterson’s proposed state budget last December. “It would have raisef our taxes22 percent,” says Michael McArdle, superintendent of the Scio Central School District. “It drove us to look at our budget and the issuesa wewere facing.
” The budgetarg news from Albany subsequently took a turn for the but officials from Scio and nearbh Wellsville continue to explore their optionas -- perhaps a merger, more likely a collaboratiobn on a smaller scale. “Everything is says McArdle. “We’re trying to find the best wayto go, the way to get the best educationao opportunities for our students and to keep our tax rate The Wyoming Central School Districy faced a similar problem in 1991. Enrollmenty was declining, especially at the high schook level. Elective courses were sparsely Only three students signedx up for physicsone year.
Voters rejected mergersa with Pavilionor “That left the district struggling to come up with a says the current superintendent, Sandra “So we started to look at Wyoming students now attend theier local school through eighth grade, then shift to high school in any of four adjacent districts: Alexander, Attica, Paviliojn or Warsaw. Wyoming pays tuition for each student, a standarc rate that is negotiated with its neighbors every five Wyoming also belongs to a consortiu of six districts seeking ways to cut costs by sharinb services suchas transportation, building maintenance, special education and curriculum development.
Similar arrangements can be foune elsewhere in WesternNew York, sometimes involving several districts, sometimes a one-on-one setup such as Scio and Wellsvillw are discussing. These measurew offer the prospect of reduciny expenses while retaininglocal control. It’s a combinatiobn that appeals to superintendents who are well awarre that the mere suggestion of a merger can triggerintensr opposition.
“What the people of Sherman are telling us is that they like the educatio their childrenare receiving,” says “They’re saying, ‘Please keep it the way it