From the Inquirer.
Pa. senator pushes bill on school district mergers
The Associated Press Posted on Tue, Apr. 28, 2009
HARRISBURG, Pa. - A western Pennsylvania state senator wants a government commission to study how to consolidate many of Pennsylvania's 500 public school districts.
Cambria County Democrat John Wozniak said Tuesday the state should begin a process he says could take years but result in better academic programs and substantial cost savings.
Wozniak's proposal is similar to an idea Gov. Ed Rendell introduced during his February budget address.
Wozniak wants a 15-member commission that would hold 20 public hearings around the state before putting forward a plan to realign districts.
Rendell said the state should aim for about 100 school districts, but Wozniak isn't setting a goal yet.
Showing posts with label PA State School Consolidation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PA State School Consolidation. Show all posts
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Inefficient, expensive, but an American icon
From the Inquirer.
Inefficient, expensive, but an American icon
The neighborhood school helps to define who we are. Consolidation threatens that.
Commentary By Jonathan Zimmerman, Posted on Tue, Apr. 14, 2009
Imagine two school districts somewhere on America's checkered educational landscape. Each district has 1,000 students. But each one also has its own superintendent, clerical employees, and buses. And neither can afford electives in art, music, or technology.
Wouldn't you want to merge them?
Across the country, governors and state legislatures are trying to do exactly that. Here in Pennsylvania, Gov. Rendell has proposed a 12-member commission to suggest ways to consolidate some of our state's 501 school districts. Lawmakers in South Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa are devising their own consolidation schemes. In these tough times, the argument goes, bigger districts will reduce administrative costs while enhancing curricula. So citizens will get more educational bang for their property-tax buck.
Only, the citizens don't see it that way. Especially in rural areas, voters have produced a flood of letters and petitions against consolidation. And in Maine, which passed a consolidation law two years ago, opponents are mounting a campaign to repeal it.
What's going on here? Part of the issue concerns money: Many voters doubt consolidation would cut costs or fear their taxes would actually go up.
But there's more. To Americans, school is not simply an institution to educate the largest number of children at the lowest expense possible. It's a symbol of community, of the geographic spaces and face-to-face relationships that help define who we are. If we give up our schools or our districts, we relinquish part of ourselves.
Consider the one-room schoolhouse, the ultimate emblem of our nation's educational localism. As late as 1913, fully one-half of the nation's students attended a single-teacher school. And they did so over the protests of state legislators and educational officials, who railed incessantly against the inefficiency of one-room schools.
In many ways, the critics were correct. These schools had children of different ages huddling around smoky stoves and reciting long passages to their young teachers, who often possessed not much more education than the kids. Meanwhile, despite the myth of the tidy "little red schoolhouse," many were barren, dilapidated shacks. They weren't even red, because parsimonious citizens refused to pay for paint.
But the schools were theirs, and that's what mattered. Often the lone public building within miles, the one-room school hosted marriages, funerals, spelling bees, and political rallies. It also featured evening dramas and debates, the only entertainment in many parts of the country.
One Utah school staged a debate about whether "a load of seed potatoes" or "a load of women" was "most needed in the community." In North Dakota, villagers deliberated on whether "the Farm Woman Works Harder and has Less Recreation than the Farm Man." (A three-judge panel ruled for the Farm Woman.)
Not surprisingly, then, these Americans bridled when states moved to consolidate their schools. "Individuality will be lost, the pride taken in 'our' school and 'our' teacher gone," warned one parent in upstate New York, identifying herself only as a "Rural Mother."
Hers was a lost cause. By 1925, 19 states had passed laws to encourage school consolidation, often giving cash awards to districts for each single-room school they closed. Thirty-five years later, in 1960, just 1 percent of our students attended a one-room school.
But we still celebrate the tiny rural school. Look at the eight entrances to the Washington headquarters of the Department of Education, installed for a 2002 rally kicking off the federal No Child Left Behind law. Each entrance is shaped like a one-room school, featuring a slanted roof and a bell tower; the only added modern element is the slogan "No Child Left Behind," emblazoned in bold letters across all of them.
"We serve the ideal of the little red schoolhouse," then-Secretary of Education Rod Paige told the rally. "It is one of the greatest symbols of America - a symbol that every child must be taught and every child must learn, that every community was involved and every parent's input valued."
How could a one-room schoolhouse become the icon for No Child Left Behind, which gave the federal government unprecedented new powers over American education? It was illogical - even laughable. Symbolically, however, it made perfect sense. Amid the anonymity and centralization of modern life, we need emblems of the local bonds that hold us together.
That's what we get from small school districts, which continue to embody America's communal ideal. A 1,000-student district is not a one-room school, to be sure, but it is still small - and it's still ours. It may not make economic or even educational sense, but it fits snugly into the story we tell about ourselves: our roots, our purpose, and our identity. Whoever wants to change that story will have to come up with a better one.
Inefficient, expensive, but an American icon
The neighborhood school helps to define who we are. Consolidation threatens that.
Commentary By Jonathan Zimmerman, Posted on Tue, Apr. 14, 2009
Imagine two school districts somewhere on America's checkered educational landscape. Each district has 1,000 students. But each one also has its own superintendent, clerical employees, and buses. And neither can afford electives in art, music, or technology.
Wouldn't you want to merge them?
Across the country, governors and state legislatures are trying to do exactly that. Here in Pennsylvania, Gov. Rendell has proposed a 12-member commission to suggest ways to consolidate some of our state's 501 school districts. Lawmakers in South Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa are devising their own consolidation schemes. In these tough times, the argument goes, bigger districts will reduce administrative costs while enhancing curricula. So citizens will get more educational bang for their property-tax buck.
Only, the citizens don't see it that way. Especially in rural areas, voters have produced a flood of letters and petitions against consolidation. And in Maine, which passed a consolidation law two years ago, opponents are mounting a campaign to repeal it.
What's going on here? Part of the issue concerns money: Many voters doubt consolidation would cut costs or fear their taxes would actually go up.
But there's more. To Americans, school is not simply an institution to educate the largest number of children at the lowest expense possible. It's a symbol of community, of the geographic spaces and face-to-face relationships that help define who we are. If we give up our schools or our districts, we relinquish part of ourselves.
Consider the one-room schoolhouse, the ultimate emblem of our nation's educational localism. As late as 1913, fully one-half of the nation's students attended a single-teacher school. And they did so over the protests of state legislators and educational officials, who railed incessantly against the inefficiency of one-room schools.
In many ways, the critics were correct. These schools had children of different ages huddling around smoky stoves and reciting long passages to their young teachers, who often possessed not much more education than the kids. Meanwhile, despite the myth of the tidy "little red schoolhouse," many were barren, dilapidated shacks. They weren't even red, because parsimonious citizens refused to pay for paint.
But the schools were theirs, and that's what mattered. Often the lone public building within miles, the one-room school hosted marriages, funerals, spelling bees, and political rallies. It also featured evening dramas and debates, the only entertainment in many parts of the country.
One Utah school staged a debate about whether "a load of seed potatoes" or "a load of women" was "most needed in the community." In North Dakota, villagers deliberated on whether "the Farm Woman Works Harder and has Less Recreation than the Farm Man." (A three-judge panel ruled for the Farm Woman.)
Not surprisingly, then, these Americans bridled when states moved to consolidate their schools. "Individuality will be lost, the pride taken in 'our' school and 'our' teacher gone," warned one parent in upstate New York, identifying herself only as a "Rural Mother."
Hers was a lost cause. By 1925, 19 states had passed laws to encourage school consolidation, often giving cash awards to districts for each single-room school they closed. Thirty-five years later, in 1960, just 1 percent of our students attended a one-room school.
But we still celebrate the tiny rural school. Look at the eight entrances to the Washington headquarters of the Department of Education, installed for a 2002 rally kicking off the federal No Child Left Behind law. Each entrance is shaped like a one-room school, featuring a slanted roof and a bell tower; the only added modern element is the slogan "No Child Left Behind," emblazoned in bold letters across all of them.
"We serve the ideal of the little red schoolhouse," then-Secretary of Education Rod Paige told the rally. "It is one of the greatest symbols of America - a symbol that every child must be taught and every child must learn, that every community was involved and every parent's input valued."
How could a one-room schoolhouse become the icon for No Child Left Behind, which gave the federal government unprecedented new powers over American education? It was illogical - even laughable. Symbolically, however, it made perfect sense. Amid the anonymity and centralization of modern life, we need emblems of the local bonds that hold us together.
That's what we get from small school districts, which continue to embody America's communal ideal. A 1,000-student district is not a one-room school, to be sure, but it is still small - and it's still ours. It may not make economic or even educational sense, but it fits snugly into the story we tell about ourselves: our roots, our purpose, and our identity. Whoever wants to change that story will have to come up with a better one.
School district mergers worth talking about
From GoErie.com
School district mergers worth talking about
Published: April 13. 2009 12:01AM
It's easy to anticipate the following arguments against Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to pare Pennsylvania's school districts from 500 to 100.
-Large districts are unworkable.
-Smaller school districts are more attuned to the needs of the community.
-Previous mergers haven't saved money.
-Models from the business world can't be imposed on public education.
-Transportation costs would eat up savings and require students to spend too much time on the bus.
But instead of dismissing Rendell's proposal, those interested in improving public education should review Rendell's ideas with an open mind.
Rendell wants to create a legislative commission with a one-year timetable "to study how best to right-size Pennsylvania's local school districts," according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Those who work in the private sector understand that businesses continually search for ways to stay competitive. Often, this leads to consolidations within a particular business or a specific industry. School districts should not escape this scrutiny.
Rendell has said that consolidation would not require individual schools to close, but that it would reduce administrative costs. In the current economy, we have reached a tipping point. Property taxes can't be hiked every year to cover government spending that grows when everyone else is cutting back.
Erie's educational leaders and taxpayers should look to previous attempts to merge school districts and learn how those districts that passed on a merger are functioning today. The Harbor Creek and Iroquois school districts received a grant to share a business manager and considered merging in 1999. Girard and Fairview almost merged 40 years ago, but the fear of loss of local control and identity killed the merger.
How do property taxes compare for those districts now? What about course offerings for students? How have administrative costs changed over a specific time frame?
"There comes a time when you have to look beyond maintaining inefficiencies because somebody wants to maintain their school colors or mascot," said Center Area Superintendent Daniel Matsook, whose district in Beaver County will merge with Monaca on July 1. We like his blunt assessment.
We also like the attitude of Robert Puerta, board president in the Saucon Valley School District. "We should appreciate the governor's courage in raising this issue at a time when there is no consensus for such action. We never lose when we take the time to honestly discuss reform, and there are some great questions to be debated in this subject," Puerta wrote in an Op-ed for the Morning Call in Allentown.
Let the debate begin, without preconceived conclusions.
School district mergers worth talking about
Published: April 13. 2009 12:01AM
It's easy to anticipate the following arguments against Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to pare Pennsylvania's school districts from 500 to 100.
-Large districts are unworkable.
-Smaller school districts are more attuned to the needs of the community.
-Previous mergers haven't saved money.
-Models from the business world can't be imposed on public education.
-Transportation costs would eat up savings and require students to spend too much time on the bus.
But instead of dismissing Rendell's proposal, those interested in improving public education should review Rendell's ideas with an open mind.
Rendell wants to create a legislative commission with a one-year timetable "to study how best to right-size Pennsylvania's local school districts," according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Those who work in the private sector understand that businesses continually search for ways to stay competitive. Often, this leads to consolidations within a particular business or a specific industry. School districts should not escape this scrutiny.
Rendell has said that consolidation would not require individual schools to close, but that it would reduce administrative costs. In the current economy, we have reached a tipping point. Property taxes can't be hiked every year to cover government spending that grows when everyone else is cutting back.
Erie's educational leaders and taxpayers should look to previous attempts to merge school districts and learn how those districts that passed on a merger are functioning today. The Harbor Creek and Iroquois school districts received a grant to share a business manager and considered merging in 1999. Girard and Fairview almost merged 40 years ago, but the fear of loss of local control and identity killed the merger.
How do property taxes compare for those districts now? What about course offerings for students? How have administrative costs changed over a specific time frame?
"There comes a time when you have to look beyond maintaining inefficiencies because somebody wants to maintain their school colors or mascot," said Center Area Superintendent Daniel Matsook, whose district in Beaver County will merge with Monaca on July 1. We like his blunt assessment.
We also like the attitude of Robert Puerta, board president in the Saucon Valley School District. "We should appreciate the governor's courage in raising this issue at a time when there is no consensus for such action. We never lose when we take the time to honestly discuss reform, and there are some great questions to be debated in this subject," Puerta wrote in an Op-ed for the Morning Call in Allentown.
Let the debate begin, without preconceived conclusions.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Districts ambivalent about merger idea
From the Erie Times-News.
School districts ambivalent about governor's merger idea
BY VALERIE MYERS
Published: April 05. 2009 12:01AM
SCHOOL DISTRICTS -- BY THE NUMBERS
The number of public-school districts, public schools and public-school students is actually increasing nationally:
1993-94 school year:
14,523 public-school districts, 83,621 public schools, 43.5 million public-school students.
2007-08: 14,556 public-school districts, 100,308 public schools, 49.8 million public-school students.
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics
When two Beaver County school districts are pronounced the Central Valley School District on July 1, they will be the first ever to merge without the state Department of Education forcing them to do so.
The voluntary consolidation of the Center Area and Monaca school districts will reduce the number of Pennsylvania's local school districts from 501 to 500 -- or 400 more than Gov. Ed Rendell wants.
Rendell has proposed a legislative commission to recommend ways to downsize -- he says "right-size" -- the number of public school districts to no more than 100, or about 1.5 school districts per county.
The action has precedent; the state has ordered a number of school district consolidations through the years. The most widespread through the 1960s pared 2,277 local school districts to 669, said David Davare, director of research services for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
Not many people regret those consolidations.
But many wonder whether further consolidations are financially and educationally prudent.
Keeping up (or down) with Joneses
Rendell points to neighboring Maryland as a model for Pennsylvania's schools. Maryland has just 24 school districts -- one in each county.
The upsides of consolidation, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, include reducing "staggering, and growing" administrative costs, local property tax relief, and pooling of resources for better, more-affordable education, including more class choices than small districts can provide.
Also, only 10 states have more school districts than Pennsylvania, and many of the highest-achieving states are organized into far fewer school districts, according to the PDE.
But a 2001 study by Syracuse University's Center for Policy Research found that school district consolidations in New York state have saved money only for very small districts, had negligible savings for districts of 1,500 students, and increased costs in larger districts -- both in dollars for labor and transportation and in staff, student and parent engagement.
And in other states where consolidations have recently been ordered, they aren't universally popular. In Maine, voters are organizing a referendum in hopes of repealing a 2007 law requiring consolidation of the state's 290 local school districts into about 80.
In Nebraska, where a 2005 state law requires elementary-only school districts to merge with K-12 districts, a lawsuit attempting to overturn the law was dismissed in federal court but has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Been there, (not) done that
Retired Harbor Creek schools Superintendent David Smith at one time favored the consolidation of the Harbor Creek and Iroquois school districts.
Analysis and some preliminary consolidation of the two administrations changed his mind.
The two districts were the last in Erie County to seriously consider consolidation, in 1999. A state incentive grant paid for some administrative consolidation, including sharing a business manager who worked half of each day at Harbor Creek and half at Iroquois.
"The savings we anticipated just weren't there," Smith said. "By and large, it worked out well, but it wasn't saving money. The business manager was putting in ungodly hours."
Other pocketbook issues and the educational issues of consolidation are tougher to address, Smith said. One school district might have a junior high school and the other a middle school. One might have its buildings paid for while the other has significant debt that taxpayers in the combined district would have to pay off.
Academic success and which schools close, which remain open and whether new schools are needed can be even bigger headaches.
"And when you start talking about cost savings and closing down schools that aren't efficient or too small, then you get into transportation issues, and that's a nightmare. Transportation costs are enormous," Smith said.
The toll isn't just in gasoline and maintenance, but time, he said.
"How much time are youngsters spending on that bus and what activities are they going to miss out on because they're on that bus? You have to consider those kinds of things as well," Smith said.
Tigers and Yellowjackets 1, Vikings 0
Another problem with consolidation is loss of local identity and control. It was the deal-breaker when Fairview and Girard school districts looked at consolidation 40 years ago. By state mandate at the time, no district could have fewer than 4,000 students. Both Fairview and Girard were below that number and planned consolidation while appealing the mandate.
The two districts drew up plans for a joint Lake Erie High School and together hired a football coach and bought Viking wrestling mats and football uniforms before the state Board of Education finally granted their appeals -- based on loss of local control and identity and no real educational benefit -- in 1970. The red-and-black Fairview Tigers and yellow-and-black Girard Yellowjackets wound up divvying the blue-and-gold Viking spoils.
Those local identities and loyalties can derail consolidation, said Daniel Matsook, superintendent of the Center Area School District now merging with Monaca.
"We call those matters of the heart, and we've put them on the back burner," Matsook said. "There comes a time when you have to look beyond maintaining inefficiencies because somebody wants to maintain their school colors or mascot."
Third time's no charm
In Chautauqua County's Ripley Central School District, the economics of consolidation with neighboring Westfield or Sherman schools haven't convinced voters who decide the issue in New York state. Ripley has looked at mergers three times in the past 10 years. They've been rejected by one of the parties all three times, most recently by voters in the Westfield Academy and Central School District in February.
"There's no overwhelming proof that centralization eliminates or reduces taxes," said Jeff Buchholz, who taught in Ripley and was president of the teachers union there through all but the most recent merger effort.
Central (Valley) issues
For Monaca and Center Area school districts, where enrollments have declined along with the steel industry, consolidation is expected to improve both education and economics. The two districts expect to save a combined $1.4 million annually, Department of Education spokesman Michael Race said.
Still, consolidation -- including closing an elementary school and deciding on middle school rather than junior high -- hasn't been easy, Center Area's superintendent said. The two school districts have been working on the merger for more than three years.
"We went into this agreeing only to investigate whether merger makes sense or not; we didn't go into it saying we're going to merge," Matsook said. "We looked at the facts, and the facts bore this out."
School districts ambivalent about governor's merger idea
BY VALERIE MYERS
Published: April 05. 2009 12:01AM
SCHOOL DISTRICTS -- BY THE NUMBERS
The number of public-school districts, public schools and public-school students is actually increasing nationally:
1993-94 school year:
14,523 public-school districts, 83,621 public schools, 43.5 million public-school students.
2007-08: 14,556 public-school districts, 100,308 public schools, 49.8 million public-school students.
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics
When two Beaver County school districts are pronounced the Central Valley School District on July 1, they will be the first ever to merge without the state Department of Education forcing them to do so.
The voluntary consolidation of the Center Area and Monaca school districts will reduce the number of Pennsylvania's local school districts from 501 to 500 -- or 400 more than Gov. Ed Rendell wants.
Rendell has proposed a legislative commission to recommend ways to downsize -- he says "right-size" -- the number of public school districts to no more than 100, or about 1.5 school districts per county.
The action has precedent; the state has ordered a number of school district consolidations through the years. The most widespread through the 1960s pared 2,277 local school districts to 669, said David Davare, director of research services for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
Not many people regret those consolidations.
But many wonder whether further consolidations are financially and educationally prudent.
Keeping up (or down) with Joneses
Rendell points to neighboring Maryland as a model for Pennsylvania's schools. Maryland has just 24 school districts -- one in each county.
The upsides of consolidation, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, include reducing "staggering, and growing" administrative costs, local property tax relief, and pooling of resources for better, more-affordable education, including more class choices than small districts can provide.
Also, only 10 states have more school districts than Pennsylvania, and many of the highest-achieving states are organized into far fewer school districts, according to the PDE.
But a 2001 study by Syracuse University's Center for Policy Research found that school district consolidations in New York state have saved money only for very small districts, had negligible savings for districts of 1,500 students, and increased costs in larger districts -- both in dollars for labor and transportation and in staff, student and parent engagement.
And in other states where consolidations have recently been ordered, they aren't universally popular. In Maine, voters are organizing a referendum in hopes of repealing a 2007 law requiring consolidation of the state's 290 local school districts into about 80.
In Nebraska, where a 2005 state law requires elementary-only school districts to merge with K-12 districts, a lawsuit attempting to overturn the law was dismissed in federal court but has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Been there, (not) done that
Retired Harbor Creek schools Superintendent David Smith at one time favored the consolidation of the Harbor Creek and Iroquois school districts.
Analysis and some preliminary consolidation of the two administrations changed his mind.
The two districts were the last in Erie County to seriously consider consolidation, in 1999. A state incentive grant paid for some administrative consolidation, including sharing a business manager who worked half of each day at Harbor Creek and half at Iroquois.
"The savings we anticipated just weren't there," Smith said. "By and large, it worked out well, but it wasn't saving money. The business manager was putting in ungodly hours."
Other pocketbook issues and the educational issues of consolidation are tougher to address, Smith said. One school district might have a junior high school and the other a middle school. One might have its buildings paid for while the other has significant debt that taxpayers in the combined district would have to pay off.
Academic success and which schools close, which remain open and whether new schools are needed can be even bigger headaches.
"And when you start talking about cost savings and closing down schools that aren't efficient or too small, then you get into transportation issues, and that's a nightmare. Transportation costs are enormous," Smith said.
The toll isn't just in gasoline and maintenance, but time, he said.
"How much time are youngsters spending on that bus and what activities are they going to miss out on because they're on that bus? You have to consider those kinds of things as well," Smith said.
Tigers and Yellowjackets 1, Vikings 0
Another problem with consolidation is loss of local identity and control. It was the deal-breaker when Fairview and Girard school districts looked at consolidation 40 years ago. By state mandate at the time, no district could have fewer than 4,000 students. Both Fairview and Girard were below that number and planned consolidation while appealing the mandate.
The two districts drew up plans for a joint Lake Erie High School and together hired a football coach and bought Viking wrestling mats and football uniforms before the state Board of Education finally granted their appeals -- based on loss of local control and identity and no real educational benefit -- in 1970. The red-and-black Fairview Tigers and yellow-and-black Girard Yellowjackets wound up divvying the blue-and-gold Viking spoils.
Those local identities and loyalties can derail consolidation, said Daniel Matsook, superintendent of the Center Area School District now merging with Monaca.
"We call those matters of the heart, and we've put them on the back burner," Matsook said. "There comes a time when you have to look beyond maintaining inefficiencies because somebody wants to maintain their school colors or mascot."
Third time's no charm
In Chautauqua County's Ripley Central School District, the economics of consolidation with neighboring Westfield or Sherman schools haven't convinced voters who decide the issue in New York state. Ripley has looked at mergers three times in the past 10 years. They've been rejected by one of the parties all three times, most recently by voters in the Westfield Academy and Central School District in February.
"There's no overwhelming proof that centralization eliminates or reduces taxes," said Jeff Buchholz, who taught in Ripley and was president of the teachers union there through all but the most recent merger effort.
Central (Valley) issues
For Monaca and Center Area school districts, where enrollments have declined along with the steel industry, consolidation is expected to improve both education and economics. The two districts expect to save a combined $1.4 million annually, Department of Education spokesman Michael Race said.
Still, consolidation -- including closing an elementary school and deciding on middle school rather than junior high -- hasn't been easy, Center Area's superintendent said. The two school districts have been working on the merger for more than three years.
"We went into this agreeing only to investigate whether merger makes sense or not; we didn't go into it saying we're going to merge," Matsook said. "We looked at the facts, and the facts bore this out."
Monday, March 23, 2009
Caution: School Merging Ahead
From the Inquirer.
CAUTION: SCHOOLS MERGING AHEAD
Rendell says Pa. has too many school districts, but his cure may be worse than the problem.
Bob Martin is a former Inquirer writer and editor Posted on Sun, Mar. 22, 2009
School districts are like errant siblings. You beat them up, bawl them out, and shame them into good behavior - until an outsider comes along and starts coercing them. Then you put up your fists and say you'll defend them to the death.
These days, the outsider is Gov. Rendell, who wants to force consolidation of hundreds of school districts statewide. He believes that Pennsylvania's 501 school districts are too many, that consolidation would reduce administrative costs and taxes while enhancing academics through greater course offerings and extracurricular programs. His education press secretary, Michael Race, says that arguments against the plan are "excuses for inaction" and constitute an "us- against-them parochialism that doesn't serve anyone in Pennsylvania."
But isn't parochialism just a pejorative way of defining local control - and might not inaction be the wiser course when the cure is worse than the problem?
In 2006, the state's Legislative Budget and Finance Commission paid Standard & Poor's $236,573 to study the cost-effectiveness of consolidating Pennsylvania's school districts. Among its findings:
The optimum school district size for cost-effectiveness is 2,500-2,999 students.
There is "virtually no correlation" between size of enrollment and standardized test scores.
Consolidation would face "considerable opposition," involving such factors as socioeconomic and demographic differences between school districts, the potential for longer bus routes for schoolchildren, less local control, and "a loss of local identity due to different community cultures and traditions."
Despite these conclusions, the Rendell administration feels that consolidations "have to be done on a much broader scale," Race said. So its draft legislation (yet to be introduced) would mandate that every school district in Pennsylvania have at least 5,000 students. Of the 62 districts in Southeastern Pennsylvania, 34 have projected enrollments of fewer than 5,000 students in the 2011-12 school year. Under the proposal, they would be forced into shotgun marriages with other districts and require all-new school boards.
In these districts, where a two-block change in the bus route can pack a meeting room with angry parents, consolidation is sure to stir gale-force winds of protest from a coalition of school staff, school board members, parents, students, and yes, even taxpayers. If politics makes strange bedfellows, they're going to need an extra-large mattress for this horde.
Let's assume a merger model of two districts with different demographics.
New contracts would have to be negotiated with every union, whether it be for teachers, custodians, clerical staff, or bus drivers. Any union worth its dues will fight to bring every category of employee up to the pay and benefit level of the best existing contract - and that means more taxes.
One superintendent would lose his or her job, but both would have existing multiyear contracts still in force from their prior districts. So the "losing" superintendent would keep getting paid for the duration of his contract, even if he or she wasn't working.
Assuming that the No Child Left Behind Act is reauthorized by Congress, an academically proficient district being merged with another that had failed to make adequate yearly progress under the law could face intervention and eventual sanctions for its inherited, underperforming schools.
Merging districts would assume one another's debt and pension obligations, which could affect bond ratings and also spell higher taxes.
If the consequences of consolidations raise hackles, then Rendell's method for achieving the new school district alignment is sure to trigger outrage.
Whereas the prior school consolidation in Pennsylvania (from 2,700 to 501 districts) stretched over about 25 years last century, the governor is seeking to put this one in place in about 30 months.
The task seems mind-boggling: Under the proposed enabling legislation, leaders from both parties and branches of the General Assembly would appoint a 12-member study commission. It would have one year to hold 10 public hearings statewide and then approve up to two consolidation plans for General Assembly consideration. If no plan were endorsed by the commission, it would be sent back out to the hustings for 10 more public hearings and then directed to approve a proposal within six months.
Once the plan or plans got to the General Assembly, legislators would vote them up or down without amendment. That's right. Your elected representative could not modify the new districts' boundaries. Otherwise, Race said, consolidation could be "subject to death by a thousand cuts."
And if the General Assembly voted the plan down, then the State Board of Education could draw up the new districts itself.
So, first an appointed commission proposes - and then possibly an appointed board imposes - a measure that could affect 1.8 million schoolchildren and legions of parents, taxpayers, and interest groups across Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, our state legislators (with the exception of the 12 on the panel) would be reduced to political eunuchs. It's not my idea of democracy.
Napoleon Bonaparte said that a revolution is an idea that has found its bayonets. Ed Rendell has an idea, but let's hope he's several bayonets short of a revolution.
E-mail Bob Martin at inkwire86@verizon.net.
FORCED TO COMBINE?
Rendell's draft plan would require school districts with fewer than 5,000 students to consolidate. Area districts at risk and their projected 2011-12 enrollment:
Bucks County
Bristol Borough 1,271
Morrisville 728
New Hope-Solebury 1,671
Palisades 1,809
Chester County
Great Valley 4,255
Kennett Consolid. 4,398
Octorara Area 2,782
Oxford Area 4,164
Phoenixville Area 3,200
Twin Valley 3,782
Unionville-Chadds Ford 4,219
Delaware County
Chester Upland 2,765
Chichester 3,359
Interboro 3,561
Marple Newtown 3,434
Penn-Delco 3,497
Radnor Township 3,628
Rose Tree-Media 3,631
Southeast Delco 4,100
Springfield 3,505
Wallingford-
Swarthmore 3,437
Montgomery County
Colonial 4,991
Upper Dublin 4,150
Upper Merion 3,907
Upper Moreland 2,936
Upper Perkiomen 3,344
Wissahickon 4,364
Cheltenham 4,105
Hatboro-Horsham 4,893
Jenkintown 538
Lower Moreland 2,476
Pottsgrove 3,259
Pottstown 3,102
Springfield 2,116
SOURCE: Enrollment Projections, Pa. Dept of Education, 2009
CAUTION: SCHOOLS MERGING AHEAD
Rendell says Pa. has too many school districts, but his cure may be worse than the problem.
Bob Martin is a former Inquirer writer and editor Posted on Sun, Mar. 22, 2009
School districts are like errant siblings. You beat them up, bawl them out, and shame them into good behavior - until an outsider comes along and starts coercing them. Then you put up your fists and say you'll defend them to the death.
These days, the outsider is Gov. Rendell, who wants to force consolidation of hundreds of school districts statewide. He believes that Pennsylvania's 501 school districts are too many, that consolidation would reduce administrative costs and taxes while enhancing academics through greater course offerings and extracurricular programs. His education press secretary, Michael Race, says that arguments against the plan are "excuses for inaction" and constitute an "us- against-them parochialism that doesn't serve anyone in Pennsylvania."
But isn't parochialism just a pejorative way of defining local control - and might not inaction be the wiser course when the cure is worse than the problem?
In 2006, the state's Legislative Budget and Finance Commission paid Standard & Poor's $236,573 to study the cost-effectiveness of consolidating Pennsylvania's school districts. Among its findings:
The optimum school district size for cost-effectiveness is 2,500-2,999 students.
There is "virtually no correlation" between size of enrollment and standardized test scores.
Consolidation would face "considerable opposition," involving such factors as socioeconomic and demographic differences between school districts, the potential for longer bus routes for schoolchildren, less local control, and "a loss of local identity due to different community cultures and traditions."
Despite these conclusions, the Rendell administration feels that consolidations "have to be done on a much broader scale," Race said. So its draft legislation (yet to be introduced) would mandate that every school district in Pennsylvania have at least 5,000 students. Of the 62 districts in Southeastern Pennsylvania, 34 have projected enrollments of fewer than 5,000 students in the 2011-12 school year. Under the proposal, they would be forced into shotgun marriages with other districts and require all-new school boards.
In these districts, where a two-block change in the bus route can pack a meeting room with angry parents, consolidation is sure to stir gale-force winds of protest from a coalition of school staff, school board members, parents, students, and yes, even taxpayers. If politics makes strange bedfellows, they're going to need an extra-large mattress for this horde.
Let's assume a merger model of two districts with different demographics.
New contracts would have to be negotiated with every union, whether it be for teachers, custodians, clerical staff, or bus drivers. Any union worth its dues will fight to bring every category of employee up to the pay and benefit level of the best existing contract - and that means more taxes.
One superintendent would lose his or her job, but both would have existing multiyear contracts still in force from their prior districts. So the "losing" superintendent would keep getting paid for the duration of his contract, even if he or she wasn't working.
Assuming that the No Child Left Behind Act is reauthorized by Congress, an academically proficient district being merged with another that had failed to make adequate yearly progress under the law could face intervention and eventual sanctions for its inherited, underperforming schools.
Merging districts would assume one another's debt and pension obligations, which could affect bond ratings and also spell higher taxes.
If the consequences of consolidations raise hackles, then Rendell's method for achieving the new school district alignment is sure to trigger outrage.
Whereas the prior school consolidation in Pennsylvania (from 2,700 to 501 districts) stretched over about 25 years last century, the governor is seeking to put this one in place in about 30 months.
The task seems mind-boggling: Under the proposed enabling legislation, leaders from both parties and branches of the General Assembly would appoint a 12-member study commission. It would have one year to hold 10 public hearings statewide and then approve up to two consolidation plans for General Assembly consideration. If no plan were endorsed by the commission, it would be sent back out to the hustings for 10 more public hearings and then directed to approve a proposal within six months.
Once the plan or plans got to the General Assembly, legislators would vote them up or down without amendment. That's right. Your elected representative could not modify the new districts' boundaries. Otherwise, Race said, consolidation could be "subject to death by a thousand cuts."
And if the General Assembly voted the plan down, then the State Board of Education could draw up the new districts itself.
So, first an appointed commission proposes - and then possibly an appointed board imposes - a measure that could affect 1.8 million schoolchildren and legions of parents, taxpayers, and interest groups across Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, our state legislators (with the exception of the 12 on the panel) would be reduced to political eunuchs. It's not my idea of democracy.
Napoleon Bonaparte said that a revolution is an idea that has found its bayonets. Ed Rendell has an idea, but let's hope he's several bayonets short of a revolution.
E-mail Bob Martin at inkwire86@verizon.net.
FORCED TO COMBINE?
Rendell's draft plan would require school districts with fewer than 5,000 students to consolidate. Area districts at risk and their projected 2011-12 enrollment:
Bucks County
Bristol Borough 1,271
Morrisville 728
New Hope-Solebury 1,671
Palisades 1,809
Chester County
Great Valley 4,255
Kennett Consolid. 4,398
Octorara Area 2,782
Oxford Area 4,164
Phoenixville Area 3,200
Twin Valley 3,782
Unionville-Chadds Ford 4,219
Delaware County
Chester Upland 2,765
Chichester 3,359
Interboro 3,561
Marple Newtown 3,434
Penn-Delco 3,497
Radnor Township 3,628
Rose Tree-Media 3,631
Southeast Delco 4,100
Springfield 3,505
Wallingford-
Swarthmore 3,437
Montgomery County
Colonial 4,991
Upper Dublin 4,150
Upper Merion 3,907
Upper Moreland 2,936
Upper Perkiomen 3,344
Wissahickon 4,364
Cheltenham 4,105
Hatboro-Horsham 4,893
Jenkintown 538
Lower Moreland 2,476
Pottsgrove 3,259
Pottstown 3,102
Springfield 2,116
SOURCE: Enrollment Projections, Pa. Dept of Education, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
We don't want your merger
From the Lebanon Daily News
W.Pa. school board rejects offer of merger study
The Associated Press Updated: 03/17/2009 09:27:22 AM EDT
ROCKWOOD, Pa.—A western Pennsylvania school board has rejected an offer by the state to pay for a feasibility study that would assess consolidation options.
Rockwood school board members turned down the offer at a meeting Monday, indicating opposition to Gov. Ed Rendell's efforts to eliminate about 400 of the state's 501 districts.
Rockwood is about 15 miles south of Somerset. Rockwood is a rural district serving about 900 students.
Board member Mark Lucas says the study could put the district "on the road to lose local control" and give Rendell "the ammunition he needs to force a merger."
Turkeyfoot Valley Area School District has approved the study. Rockwood and Turkeyfoot have discussed in the past consolidating or sharing resources.
W.Pa. school board rejects offer of merger study
The Associated Press Updated: 03/17/2009 09:27:22 AM EDT
ROCKWOOD, Pa.—A western Pennsylvania school board has rejected an offer by the state to pay for a feasibility study that would assess consolidation options.
Rockwood school board members turned down the offer at a meeting Monday, indicating opposition to Gov. Ed Rendell's efforts to eliminate about 400 of the state's 501 districts.
Rockwood is about 15 miles south of Somerset. Rockwood is a rural district serving about 900 students.
Board member Mark Lucas says the study could put the district "on the road to lose local control" and give Rendell "the ammunition he needs to force a merger."
Turkeyfoot Valley Area School District has approved the study. Rockwood and Turkeyfoot have discussed in the past consolidating or sharing resources.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Merger Talk: Proceed With Caution
From the Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette
Rendell's school merger idea deserves a look
But skeptics who say it must show considerable savings make a strong point
February 23, 2009
Less is more. At least, that's what Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is thinking in asking his state's Legislature to appoint a commission to study the merger of the state's school districts.
His heart is in the right place. Anywhere the state can save money, even by trimming Pennsylvania's 500 school districts, would sound like a proposal that could make taxpayers happy.
But wait. The governor has a number in mind. It's 100, and that means an ambitious consolidation that is likely to strip some districts of their unique identities as they move in with a larger family of schools. As well-intended as the governor's efforts are, he is asking state officials to tinker with one of the sacred areas that causes anxiety among residents, especially in rural areas where schools are as important to communities as their churches.
Theoretically, fewer districts and more efficiency should yield school systems that can apply their money toward higher quality. But theory doesn't carry as much weight as the political backlash that can hammer local legislators who might have to explain to voters why their district is losing its identity in a larger collection of schools.
Legislators such as Rep. Matt Baker, R-Wellsboro, agree with Wellsboro schools Superintendent Phil Waber that the issue is worth studying. And why wouldn't they say that? There's nothing to lose at this stage of the process, and certainly there's a wealth of information to be gained.
Plus, if the legislatively appointed commission actually produces reliable information that consolidations would save money, then the discussions could go from theory to fact. But as Waber correctly points out, unless any such plan includes school closings, there's not likely to be much savings.
The governor's plan has several steps to take before it even comes close to reality. First, there has to be a study commission that is expected to come up with two plans. Then the public gets a chance to respond before the legislature, called the General Assembly in Pennsylvania, votes on each plan. Disapproval of the plans would throw the merger issue into the laps of the state Board of Education.
For now, the plan is just that. A plan. With further study, it can become a real talking point, and that's where a merger study must lead. But Waber is right. Unless it can save money, lots of it, a merger won't be much use.
Rendell's school merger idea deserves a look
But skeptics who say it must show considerable savings make a strong point
February 23, 2009
Less is more. At least, that's what Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is thinking in asking his state's Legislature to appoint a commission to study the merger of the state's school districts.
His heart is in the right place. Anywhere the state can save money, even by trimming Pennsylvania's 500 school districts, would sound like a proposal that could make taxpayers happy.
But wait. The governor has a number in mind. It's 100, and that means an ambitious consolidation that is likely to strip some districts of their unique identities as they move in with a larger family of schools. As well-intended as the governor's efforts are, he is asking state officials to tinker with one of the sacred areas that causes anxiety among residents, especially in rural areas where schools are as important to communities as their churches.
Theoretically, fewer districts and more efficiency should yield school systems that can apply their money toward higher quality. But theory doesn't carry as much weight as the political backlash that can hammer local legislators who might have to explain to voters why their district is losing its identity in a larger collection of schools.
Legislators such as Rep. Matt Baker, R-Wellsboro, agree with Wellsboro schools Superintendent Phil Waber that the issue is worth studying. And why wouldn't they say that? There's nothing to lose at this stage of the process, and certainly there's a wealth of information to be gained.
Plus, if the legislatively appointed commission actually produces reliable information that consolidations would save money, then the discussions could go from theory to fact. But as Waber correctly points out, unless any such plan includes school closings, there's not likely to be much savings.
The governor's plan has several steps to take before it even comes close to reality. First, there has to be a study commission that is expected to come up with two plans. Then the public gets a chance to respond before the legislature, called the General Assembly in Pennsylvania, votes on each plan. Disapproval of the plans would throw the merger issue into the laps of the state Board of Education.
For now, the plan is just that. A plan. With further study, it can become a real talking point, and that's where a merger study must lead. But Waber is right. Unless it can save money, lots of it, a merger won't be much use.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Merger Talk: More Big Government?
Is the school consolidation just another way toward big government?
We Pennsylvanians love our communities
by Lowman S. Henry, CEO and
Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research
Governor Ed Rendell's suggestion that Pennsylvania should undergo another round of school district consolidation has reignited the debate as to whether fewer and bigger is better than more and smaller.
It is a debate that has raged for years over Pennsylvania's other units of local government: municipalities such as townships, boroughs and cities. The commonwealth has 5,334 such local governments ranging in size from the 1,450,000 residents who live in the City of Philadelphia, to small boroughs with less than 1,000 residents. Pennsylvania's tradition of local government can be traced back to the colonial era, when local communities were run by New England-style town hall meetings wherein all the residents showed up to debate and vote upon issues of common concern.
The tradition of local government is one to which Pennsylvanians cling. Over the years, polls conducted by the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research have shown that overwhelmingly local government is viewed by voters as the most responsive and cost efficient. This despite repeated efforts by state government and often times business groups who continually push for municipal consolidation.
Why do Pennsylvanians love their local governments so much? A big factor is identity. Think about where you live. If you live in a small town or community do you tell people you are "from" your town, or that you are "from" the nearest big city? If you are from Chester, you don't tell people you live in Philadelphia. If you live in Greensburg, you don't say you are from Pittsburgh. If you reside in Camp Hill, you don't tell folks you are from Harrisburg.
And then there is the issue of access and accountability. The old town meeting concept worked because people had a direct voice in the affairs of their community. Since local governments provide the services most people use on a day-to-day basis – like trash pick-up, parks, roads, police protection – we like being able to complain to someone who will listen, or have a say in who and how these services are provided.
Smaller units of government also increase dramatically public interaction with elected officials. If you live in a small town or township chances are you know at least one member of borough council or one member of your board of township supervisors or commissioners. They are your neighbors. They go to church with you, shop at the same grocery store, and their kids go to school with your kids. Local officials tend to be the most responsive because they are the most accessible.
A recent Lincoln Institute survey of township supervisors found little buy-in to the argument that consolidating municipalities would save money. Sixty-seven percent said they did not think that regionalization or consolidation of municipalities would bring about cost savings. In fact, many argue they already work together with neighboring municipalities when it is beneficial. Eighty-six percent of the townships participating in the survey said they have inter-municipal agreements.
And, while Philadelphia, Harrisburg and the state's other biggest cities are looking for a federal bail-out to survive the current economic recession, townships are holding up rather well. Seventy-four percent said they have not had to reduce services in order to avoid raising taxes and 68% said they have a "rainy day" fund set aside to help them weather any economic storm. Further, despite the economic recession, 40% report there has been some business growth in their municipality, and 35% have seen more manufacturing activity.
In fact, the supervisors told the Lincoln Institute their biggest problems are not financial. Roadway conditions and traffic problem top their list of concerns, followed by low commercial tax base, aging infrastructure, sprawl and affordable housing. Supervisors are also concerned that some of their local functions, such as planning and zoning, will be co-opted by counties or the state. Eighty-three percent want to keep that at the local level.
Another reason township supervisors resist consolidation is to protect what they see as a superior quality of life in their municipalities. Eighty percent told the Lincoln Institute that high crime rates are causing people to flee the state's cities, 72% said high taxes in cities are a problem, and 61% cite poor schools in cities as a reason why their populations are moving out.
The bottom line is Pennsylvania's system of many medium and small sized municipalities is working financially, administratively, and provides a sense of community to residents. As the debate over school district consolidation heats up, it would be wise to take some of the same factors that make Pennsylvanians satisfied with their local governments into consideration when deciding how large our school districts should become.
We Pennsylvanians love our communities
by Lowman S. Henry, CEO and
Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research
Governor Ed Rendell's suggestion that Pennsylvania should undergo another round of school district consolidation has reignited the debate as to whether fewer and bigger is better than more and smaller.
It is a debate that has raged for years over Pennsylvania's other units of local government: municipalities such as townships, boroughs and cities. The commonwealth has 5,334 such local governments ranging in size from the 1,450,000 residents who live in the City of Philadelphia, to small boroughs with less than 1,000 residents. Pennsylvania's tradition of local government can be traced back to the colonial era, when local communities were run by New England-style town hall meetings wherein all the residents showed up to debate and vote upon issues of common concern.
The tradition of local government is one to which Pennsylvanians cling. Over the years, polls conducted by the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research have shown that overwhelmingly local government is viewed by voters as the most responsive and cost efficient. This despite repeated efforts by state government and often times business groups who continually push for municipal consolidation.
Why do Pennsylvanians love their local governments so much? A big factor is identity. Think about where you live. If you live in a small town or community do you tell people you are "from" your town, or that you are "from" the nearest big city? If you are from Chester, you don't tell people you live in Philadelphia. If you live in Greensburg, you don't say you are from Pittsburgh. If you reside in Camp Hill, you don't tell folks you are from Harrisburg.
And then there is the issue of access and accountability. The old town meeting concept worked because people had a direct voice in the affairs of their community. Since local governments provide the services most people use on a day-to-day basis – like trash pick-up, parks, roads, police protection – we like being able to complain to someone who will listen, or have a say in who and how these services are provided.
Smaller units of government also increase dramatically public interaction with elected officials. If you live in a small town or township chances are you know at least one member of borough council or one member of your board of township supervisors or commissioners. They are your neighbors. They go to church with you, shop at the same grocery store, and their kids go to school with your kids. Local officials tend to be the most responsive because they are the most accessible.
A recent Lincoln Institute survey of township supervisors found little buy-in to the argument that consolidating municipalities would save money. Sixty-seven percent said they did not think that regionalization or consolidation of municipalities would bring about cost savings. In fact, many argue they already work together with neighboring municipalities when it is beneficial. Eighty-six percent of the townships participating in the survey said they have inter-municipal agreements.
And, while Philadelphia, Harrisburg and the state's other biggest cities are looking for a federal bail-out to survive the current economic recession, townships are holding up rather well. Seventy-four percent said they have not had to reduce services in order to avoid raising taxes and 68% said they have a "rainy day" fund set aside to help them weather any economic storm. Further, despite the economic recession, 40% report there has been some business growth in their municipality, and 35% have seen more manufacturing activity.
In fact, the supervisors told the Lincoln Institute their biggest problems are not financial. Roadway conditions and traffic problem top their list of concerns, followed by low commercial tax base, aging infrastructure, sprawl and affordable housing. Supervisors are also concerned that some of their local functions, such as planning and zoning, will be co-opted by counties or the state. Eighty-three percent want to keep that at the local level.
Another reason township supervisors resist consolidation is to protect what they see as a superior quality of life in their municipalities. Eighty percent told the Lincoln Institute that high crime rates are causing people to flee the state's cities, 72% said high taxes in cities are a problem, and 61% cite poor schools in cities as a reason why their populations are moving out.
The bottom line is Pennsylvania's system of many medium and small sized municipalities is working financially, administratively, and provides a sense of community to residents. As the debate over school district consolidation heats up, it would be wise to take some of the same factors that make Pennsylvanians satisfied with their local governments into consideration when deciding how large our school districts should become.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Independent or Consolidated?
From the Inquirer.
Note the Emperor: I'll only talk by email and Reiter's closed so kwitcherbellyachin.
Monica Yant Kinney: How a district's small size can magnify its challenges
By Monica Yant Kinney Posted on Sun, Feb. 15, 2009, Inquirer Columnist
If Gov. Rendell intends to push for statewide school consolidation, he should make Morrisville the first stop on a listening tour. Presuming he can handle the drama.
In the itty-bitty Bucks County community, Rendell would find parents who suspect the school board cares more about dismantling the district than educating children.
Plans for a new school for kindergarten through 12th grade crumbled after one board paid $2.5 million in fees to annul a previous board's $30 million construction bond - all in the name of saving taxpayers money.
Some locals love the walkable community's old-timey intimacy. Others, wary of old-timey facilities, desperately want to merge with a larger district - even though previous pleas were rebuffed by suburban snobbery.
Most everyone in Morrisville agrees they got lucky when the boiler exploded at M.R. Reiter Elementary on a December weekend. No children were killed.
But what to make of last week's asbestos scare, which briefly closed Morrisville Middle/Senior High?
"Parents are in the dark," says Damon Miller, so disgusted he's running for the school board. "Nobody trusts anybody. This town doesn't know what it wants."
Maybe not. But when your child's future is at stake, does Harrisburg know better?
Home, casa
Named after Robert Morris, who financed the American Revolution, Morrisville occupies two square miles hard by the Delaware River across from Trenton.
The 10,000-person borough is 75 percent white, 19 percent African American, 5 percent Latino, and 1 percent Asian. Forty-three percent of all residents rent.
Diversity and transiency define the 831-student school district, which has been known to receive 11 enrollments in a single day.
When Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson arrived four years ago, only 11 percent of 11th graders were proficient in math on state achievement tests. By 2008, the number had jumped to 55 percent.
In 2007, Morrisville third graders topped all test-takers in the county, which still has Yonson beaming.
"You know how wealthy the rest of Bucks County is. My parents can't even afford a quality pre-K."
So she sought grants, and now Morrisville offers preschool. And college-credit courses for teens.
"Last year, one of our grads started Penn State's main campus as a sophomore!" Yonson raves.
All this and more have parents like Ann Perry committed to saving the schools, not scrapping them.
"We don't want to send Emma to private school," Perry says of her first-grade daughter. "Life is not private school."
What now?
Morrisville Mayor Tom Wisnosky can't recall how many consolidation talks have taken place in his lifetime. He just knows they rarely surpass stereotypes of race and class.
"One time, people said that merging with Morrisville would lower their property values," Wisnosky tells me. "That's just one of the lies perpetuated about us."
Since the last letdown in 2004, he and others got behind the idea of building new - only to see that movement halted by a costly changing of the school-board guard.
"So what's the plan?" asks an angry Lisa Castillo as she picks up her daughter from Grandview Elementary, which took in students scattered by the explosion at Reiter. "We don't want our kids educated in trailers for 20 years."
School Board President Bill Hellmann would talk to me only via e-mail. He says that Reiter will remain closed, and that he'd like to renovate the two other schools.
As for Rendell's bold proposal to forcibly squeeze 500 districts across the commonwealth into 100?
Some say the governor is tilting at educational windmills, but Hellmann believes it's the right idea in taxing times.
"Morrisville," he writes, "is really too small to have our own school district."
Contact Monica Yant Kinney at myant@phillynews.com or 215-854-4670. Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/yantkinney
Note the Emperor: I'll only talk by email and Reiter's closed so kwitcherbellyachin.
Monica Yant Kinney: How a district's small size can magnify its challenges
By Monica Yant Kinney Posted on Sun, Feb. 15, 2009, Inquirer Columnist
If Gov. Rendell intends to push for statewide school consolidation, he should make Morrisville the first stop on a listening tour. Presuming he can handle the drama.
In the itty-bitty Bucks County community, Rendell would find parents who suspect the school board cares more about dismantling the district than educating children.Plans for a new school for kindergarten through 12th grade crumbled after one board paid $2.5 million in fees to annul a previous board's $30 million construction bond - all in the name of saving taxpayers money.
Some locals love the walkable community's old-timey intimacy. Others, wary of old-timey facilities, desperately want to merge with a larger district - even though previous pleas were rebuffed by suburban snobbery.
Most everyone in Morrisville agrees they got lucky when the boiler exploded at M.R. Reiter Elementary on a December weekend. No children were killed.
But what to make of last week's asbestos scare, which briefly closed Morrisville Middle/Senior High?
"Parents are in the dark," says Damon Miller, so disgusted he's running for the school board. "Nobody trusts anybody. This town doesn't know what it wants."
Maybe not. But when your child's future is at stake, does Harrisburg know better?
Home, casa
Named after Robert Morris, who financed the American Revolution, Morrisville occupies two square miles hard by the Delaware River across from Trenton.
The 10,000-person borough is 75 percent white, 19 percent African American, 5 percent Latino, and 1 percent Asian. Forty-three percent of all residents rent.
Diversity and transiency define the 831-student school district, which has been known to receive 11 enrollments in a single day.
When Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson arrived four years ago, only 11 percent of 11th graders were proficient in math on state achievement tests. By 2008, the number had jumped to 55 percent.
In 2007, Morrisville third graders topped all test-takers in the county, which still has Yonson beaming.
"You know how wealthy the rest of Bucks County is. My parents can't even afford a quality pre-K."
So she sought grants, and now Morrisville offers preschool. And college-credit courses for teens.
"Last year, one of our grads started Penn State's main campus as a sophomore!" Yonson raves.
All this and more have parents like Ann Perry committed to saving the schools, not scrapping them.
"We don't want to send Emma to private school," Perry says of her first-grade daughter. "Life is not private school."
What now?
Morrisville Mayor Tom Wisnosky can't recall how many consolidation talks have taken place in his lifetime. He just knows they rarely surpass stereotypes of race and class.
"One time, people said that merging with Morrisville would lower their property values," Wisnosky tells me. "That's just one of the lies perpetuated about us."
Since the last letdown in 2004, he and others got behind the idea of building new - only to see that movement halted by a costly changing of the school-board guard.
"So what's the plan?" asks an angry Lisa Castillo as she picks up her daughter from Grandview Elementary, which took in students scattered by the explosion at Reiter. "We don't want our kids educated in trailers for 20 years."
School Board President Bill Hellmann would talk to me only via e-mail. He says that Reiter will remain closed, and that he'd like to renovate the two other schools.
As for Rendell's bold proposal to forcibly squeeze 500 districts across the commonwealth into 100?
Some say the governor is tilting at educational windmills, but Hellmann believes it's the right idea in taxing times.
"Morrisville," he writes, "is really too small to have our own school district."
Contact Monica Yant Kinney at myant@phillynews.com or 215-854-4670. Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/yantkinney
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Merger Talk: Pottstown/Pottsgrove
From the Pottstown Mercury.
Replace Pottstown and Pottsgrove with Morrisville and Pennsbury, in whatever direction you want. Wouldn't the story be the same?
Pottsgrove cool to merging with Pottstown
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:53 PM EST
By Evan Brandt
The Pottsgrove School Board has no immediate interest in having talks with their Pottstown counterparts about consolidating the two school districts.
As part of his budget proposal, Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed consolidating Pennsylvania's 501 school districts down to 100.
The issue had been raised locally on both sides of the border in connection with the fact that both districts are embarking on expensive school renovation programs.
Last Thursday, Pottstown School Board member Robert Hartman said he contacted Pottsgrove School Board President Michael Neiffer so see if there was any interest in having a joint meeting to explore the possibility of consolidation.
The Pottsgrove board's response? Essentially, "let's wait and see what the state does."
Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of pottsmerc.com.
rciffo wrote on Feb 11, 2009 7:48 PM:
" All a merger will do is cause a smaller group to manage a larger organization. Big mistake...loss of local autonomy. When I last checked Pottstown spent ~$15K/student and Pottsgrove ~$13.5K/student. All you rocket scientists out there...guess what will happen to Pottsgrove spending. Yep, it'll be raised to match Pottstown's. And guess how much of it will go to solve Pottstown issues? Probably all of it. (And all of you whiners who like to write your complaints in crayon, I'm not saying Pottsgrove is perfect...far from it.) Here's hoping Fast Eddie Rendell doesn't figure out a way to ram it down our collective throats. "
Replace Pottstown and Pottsgrove with Morrisville and Pennsbury, in whatever direction you want. Wouldn't the story be the same?
Pottsgrove cool to merging with Pottstown
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:53 PM EST
By Evan Brandt
The Pottsgrove School Board has no immediate interest in having talks with their Pottstown counterparts about consolidating the two school districts.
As part of his budget proposal, Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed consolidating Pennsylvania's 501 school districts down to 100.
The issue had been raised locally on both sides of the border in connection with the fact that both districts are embarking on expensive school renovation programs.
Last Thursday, Pottstown School Board member Robert Hartman said he contacted Pottsgrove School Board President Michael Neiffer so see if there was any interest in having a joint meeting to explore the possibility of consolidation.
The Pottsgrove board's response? Essentially, "let's wait and see what the state does."
Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of pottsmerc.com.
rciffo wrote on Feb 11, 2009 7:48 PM:
" All a merger will do is cause a smaller group to manage a larger organization. Big mistake...loss of local autonomy. When I last checked Pottstown spent ~$15K/student and Pottsgrove ~$13.5K/student. All you rocket scientists out there...guess what will happen to Pottsgrove spending. Yep, it'll be raised to match Pottstown's. And guess how much of it will go to solve Pottstown issues? Probably all of it. (And all of you whiners who like to write your complaints in crayon, I'm not saying Pottsgrove is perfect...far from it.) Here's hoping Fast Eddie Rendell doesn't figure out a way to ram it down our collective throats. "
Monday, February 9, 2009
Consolidation debated
From the Scranton Times-Tribune.
Consolidation debated
BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL
Published: Monday, February 09, 2009
Updated: Monday, February 9, 2009 4:13 AM EST
The 28,250 students in Lackawanna County are enrolled in 10 school districts — each with its own superintendent and administration.
Those superintendents’ salaries total more than $1 million, and the salaries of other administrators — such as business managers, human resource directors and special education supervisors — total millions more.
Gov. Ed Rendell wants to dramatically change that.
In his 2009-10 budget released last week, the governor proposed creating a commission to study how to consolidate the state’s 500 school districts into no more than 100.
Area educators, while not totally opposed to saving money and sharing resources, are questioning the scope of the plan. Others say the benefits would outweigh any costs.
“There’s no doubt there are definite cost savings and benefits for consolidation,” William King, Scranton School District acting superintendent, said. “But ultimately, I think the question is, ‘What is the optimal size so you can deliver the highest-quality education?’ ”
This is not the first time consolidation has been discussed in Pennsylvania. In 1955, there were 2,700 school districts before the Legislature authorized consolidations. By 1962, there were 600. After the Center Area and Monaca school districts in western Pennsylvania voluntarily merge July 1, there will be 500.
Under the governor’s proposal to create a legislative commission to study consolidation, he touts that merging districts would relieve local property tax burdens.
Only 10 states in the country have more school districts, and more than 40 percent of Pennsylvania’s districts have fewer than 2,000 students. Eighty percent educate fewer than 5,000 students.
Reducing the number of districts would not necessarily mean schools would close, but could “instead improve the effectiveness and efficiency of education through other means,” according to the Department of Education.
The proposed commission would have 12 voting members appointed by the General Assembly and would have one year to develop a plan, including optimal enrollment size, boundaries and a plan for implementation.
After two merger plans are adopted by the commission, the Legislature will vote. If the Legislature rejects both plans, the state Board of Education would have authority to implement a plan.
The response to the governor’s proposal has been positive, said Michael Race, Department of Education spokesman.
“It taps into a sentiment out there that there are too many school districts and too much bureaucracy,” he said.
When school districts are bigger entities, they will have larger negotiating powers for contracts from vendors — which equals savings in the budget, Mr. Race added.
District concerns
Area superintendents are concerned with the state making quick decisions and not involving enough people with the planning.
“For us to be disbanded would be overwhelming and an enormous concern to our community,” Michael Mahon, Ph.D., Abington Heights superintendent, said. “If a hypothetical district has taken good care of its buildings, has made prudent financial decisions over time ... for that district to be shut down, and perhaps combined with districts who have done none of that, brings up the question of equity.”
Mr. King said while he thinks there is a “definite need for consolidation,” the size of new school districts must be manageable.
“They’re always preaching, ‘every child by name.’ When you’re running a school district of 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 students, that takes away that possibility,” Mr. King said.
If only 100 school districts are created — the number Mr. Rendell wants — the average district would have 17,000 students.
Joseph Daley, Valley View School District superintendent, said many things need to be analyzed before a consolidation happens, from equalizing employee salaries and who owns school buildings and equipment, to what happens to district athletic teams.
Timothy Allwein, assistant executive director for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said the issue of consolidation often rises when budgets are tight.
The association is researching the idea, but warns “larger school districts give you a larger bureaucracy,” Mr. Allwein said. While only one superintendent may be needed, there will be a need for more supervisors and directors, he added.
Research by the PSBA has shown little benefit to consolidation, Mr. Allwein said.
In 2007, Standard & Poor’s made a presentation to the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee on school consolidation. The research group found districts with no more than 3,000 students may be more likely to save money than if districts had more than 3,000 students.
Possible benefits
Many states, including North Carolina and Maryland, have school districts on a county-wide basis.
“It’s certainly not a foreign concept, and it’s a step in the right direction,” said Teri Ooms, executive director of the Wilkes-Barre-based Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development. “I just hope it’s taken seriously and moved forward. I’m really a firm believer that this is a more positive thing for this region.”
Schools would still be able to keep their own identities, and it would bring the opportunities and benefits that are occurring in the wealthier school districts to the others, she said.
Along with cost-sharing, local real estate values would equalize, said John Cognetti, president of Hinerfeld Commercial Real Estate.
When buying a home, many parents consider the school district in which home is located. If all of the county, or other large area is one school district, home values in an area with what is now a better district will equalize to those homes now located in poorer districts, Mr. Cognetti said.
“It equalizes the whole county, revitalizes all areas,” he said. “It’s long overdue.”
Consolidation debated
BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL
Published: Monday, February 09, 2009
Updated: Monday, February 9, 2009 4:13 AM EST
The 28,250 students in Lackawanna County are enrolled in 10 school districts — each with its own superintendent and administration.
Those superintendents’ salaries total more than $1 million, and the salaries of other administrators — such as business managers, human resource directors and special education supervisors — total millions more.
Gov. Ed Rendell wants to dramatically change that.
In his 2009-10 budget released last week, the governor proposed creating a commission to study how to consolidate the state’s 500 school districts into no more than 100.
Area educators, while not totally opposed to saving money and sharing resources, are questioning the scope of the plan. Others say the benefits would outweigh any costs.
“There’s no doubt there are definite cost savings and benefits for consolidation,” William King, Scranton School District acting superintendent, said. “But ultimately, I think the question is, ‘What is the optimal size so you can deliver the highest-quality education?’ ”
This is not the first time consolidation has been discussed in Pennsylvania. In 1955, there were 2,700 school districts before the Legislature authorized consolidations. By 1962, there were 600. After the Center Area and Monaca school districts in western Pennsylvania voluntarily merge July 1, there will be 500.
Under the governor’s proposal to create a legislative commission to study consolidation, he touts that merging districts would relieve local property tax burdens.
Only 10 states in the country have more school districts, and more than 40 percent of Pennsylvania’s districts have fewer than 2,000 students. Eighty percent educate fewer than 5,000 students.
Reducing the number of districts would not necessarily mean schools would close, but could “instead improve the effectiveness and efficiency of education through other means,” according to the Department of Education.
The proposed commission would have 12 voting members appointed by the General Assembly and would have one year to develop a plan, including optimal enrollment size, boundaries and a plan for implementation.
After two merger plans are adopted by the commission, the Legislature will vote. If the Legislature rejects both plans, the state Board of Education would have authority to implement a plan.
The response to the governor’s proposal has been positive, said Michael Race, Department of Education spokesman.
“It taps into a sentiment out there that there are too many school districts and too much bureaucracy,” he said.
When school districts are bigger entities, they will have larger negotiating powers for contracts from vendors — which equals savings in the budget, Mr. Race added.
District concerns
Area superintendents are concerned with the state making quick decisions and not involving enough people with the planning.
“For us to be disbanded would be overwhelming and an enormous concern to our community,” Michael Mahon, Ph.D., Abington Heights superintendent, said. “If a hypothetical district has taken good care of its buildings, has made prudent financial decisions over time ... for that district to be shut down, and perhaps combined with districts who have done none of that, brings up the question of equity.”
Mr. King said while he thinks there is a “definite need for consolidation,” the size of new school districts must be manageable.
“They’re always preaching, ‘every child by name.’ When you’re running a school district of 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 students, that takes away that possibility,” Mr. King said.
If only 100 school districts are created — the number Mr. Rendell wants — the average district would have 17,000 students.
Joseph Daley, Valley View School District superintendent, said many things need to be analyzed before a consolidation happens, from equalizing employee salaries and who owns school buildings and equipment, to what happens to district athletic teams.
Timothy Allwein, assistant executive director for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said the issue of consolidation often rises when budgets are tight.
The association is researching the idea, but warns “larger school districts give you a larger bureaucracy,” Mr. Allwein said. While only one superintendent may be needed, there will be a need for more supervisors and directors, he added.
Research by the PSBA has shown little benefit to consolidation, Mr. Allwein said.
In 2007, Standard & Poor’s made a presentation to the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee on school consolidation. The research group found districts with no more than 3,000 students may be more likely to save money than if districts had more than 3,000 students.
Possible benefits
Many states, including North Carolina and Maryland, have school districts on a county-wide basis.
“It’s certainly not a foreign concept, and it’s a step in the right direction,” said Teri Ooms, executive director of the Wilkes-Barre-based Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development. “I just hope it’s taken seriously and moved forward. I’m really a firm believer that this is a more positive thing for this region.”
Schools would still be able to keep their own identities, and it would bring the opportunities and benefits that are occurring in the wealthier school districts to the others, she said.
Along with cost-sharing, local real estate values would equalize, said John Cognetti, president of Hinerfeld Commercial Real Estate.
When buying a home, many parents consider the school district in which home is located. If all of the county, or other large area is one school district, home values in an area with what is now a better district will equalize to those homes now located in poorer districts, Mr. Cognetti said.
“It equalizes the whole county, revitalizes all areas,” he said. “It’s long overdue.”
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Another Look at Rendell Merge Plan
From Education Week.
If consolidation "would not necessitate the closure of individual schools", doesn't that run against the goal of a Pennsbury-Morrisville assimilation?
Unsurprisingly, the teachers union is not too sure either.
This is good. This is the way things should happen. Discuss the plans in the light of day, allow everyone to have their say, and find the compromise that will work. Everyone will suffer some and everyone will benefit some.
Too bad that's too much to ask for in Morrisville. The board majority is all about secrecy and surprise moves.
Published Online: February 5, 2009
Rendell Calls for 'Full-Scale' School Mergers
By The Associated Press
Gov. Ed Rendell called Wednesday for the first state-ordered consolidation of Pennsylvania school districts in at least 40 years, saying that fewer districts would mean a lighter local tax burden on property owners.
His proposal will probably meet resistance from local school boards whose members fear that mergers would close some schools and cause overcrowding in those that remain.
Rendell said during his state budget address that he wants a legislative commission to develop a plan to reduce the state's 500 public school districts to no more than 100, ideally. He is asking the Legislature to include money for the study in the 2009-10 budget.
The last major state-ordered consolidation of Pennsylvania school districts occurred in the 1960s, when the state had more than 2,000 districts.
Merging more districts would enable schools to operate more efficiently and spread the local share of school costs over a wider range of property owners in each of the remaining districts, he said.
"There is nothing sacrosanct about the need to maintain 500 separate schools districts across the state — each with its own staggering, and growing, administrative costs," Rendell said.
More than 40 percent of the state's school districts enroll fewer than 2,000 students each, and more than 80 percent enroll fewer than 5,000.
The current number of 501 school districts is expected to drop to 500 in July, when the Center Area and Monaca school districts northwest of Pittsburgh complete a merger. Declining enrollments have forced both districts to limit the types of courses they can offer to students.
Some other small districts that have explored dissolving boundaries with a neighbor have concluded that the costs of merging outweigh the benefits.
Officials in the rural Halifax and Millersburg school districts north of Harrisburg recently decided that a merger would not produce substantial savings, even though they already share some sports teams and academic programs.
Certain costs would increase because programs offered in just one school district would have to be made available throughout the newly merged school district, said Halifax superintendent Robert Hassinger.
For example, Halifax offers full-day kindergarten and preschool classes, while Millersburg provides only half-day kindergarten, he said.
Residents also feared a loss of community identity if any schools were required to close, Hassinger said. A summary of Rendell's proposal said the consolidations "would not necessitate the closure of individual schools."
"The assumption that bigger is better is incorrect," Hassinger said. "In smaller communities, where there is more connection, a sense of belonging is so essential."
Tim Allwein, a lobbyist for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said his organization hopes to work with the commission but is not convinced that school district mergers save large amounts of money. A merged school district might need to hire additional central-office administrators to oversee programs, he said.
"They're going to need to take a look at the supposed savings that would occur," Allwein said.
The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, has many questions, "not the least of which is how the goal of creating 100 districts from 500 was established," spokesman Wythe Keever said.
The commission would have one year to adopt as many as two merger plans and submit them to the Legislature for approval. If lawmakers reject both options, then the State Board of Education would have the authority to consolidate school districts.
Lawmakers said the idea of getting more school districts to consolidate was worth exploring.
Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said the commission would probably have to recommend abolishing local school property taxes because differences in local tax rates often impede mergers.
"I'm hopeful, but it's a long-range project, and it's good that the governor is getting started on that," said Piccola, R-Dauphin.
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi acknowledged that the prospect of dissolving boundaries is a "very sensitive political issue" for school districts.
"People have a strong identity with their local school district, and local control is ... an aspect of local school districts that is prized by Pennsylvanians," said Pileggi, R-Delaware. "But in this day and age, in 2009, to have 501 superintendents and assistant superintendents and curriculum directors is a very inefficient way to deliver educational services across the state."
If consolidation "would not necessitate the closure of individual schools", doesn't that run against the goal of a Pennsbury-Morrisville assimilation?
Unsurprisingly, the teachers union is not too sure either.
This is good. This is the way things should happen. Discuss the plans in the light of day, allow everyone to have their say, and find the compromise that will work. Everyone will suffer some and everyone will benefit some.
Too bad that's too much to ask for in Morrisville. The board majority is all about secrecy and surprise moves.
Published Online: February 5, 2009
Rendell Calls for 'Full-Scale' School Mergers
By The Associated Press
Gov. Ed Rendell called Wednesday for the first state-ordered consolidation of Pennsylvania school districts in at least 40 years, saying that fewer districts would mean a lighter local tax burden on property owners.
His proposal will probably meet resistance from local school boards whose members fear that mergers would close some schools and cause overcrowding in those that remain.
Rendell said during his state budget address that he wants a legislative commission to develop a plan to reduce the state's 500 public school districts to no more than 100, ideally. He is asking the Legislature to include money for the study in the 2009-10 budget.
The last major state-ordered consolidation of Pennsylvania school districts occurred in the 1960s, when the state had more than 2,000 districts.
Merging more districts would enable schools to operate more efficiently and spread the local share of school costs over a wider range of property owners in each of the remaining districts, he said.
"There is nothing sacrosanct about the need to maintain 500 separate schools districts across the state — each with its own staggering, and growing, administrative costs," Rendell said.
More than 40 percent of the state's school districts enroll fewer than 2,000 students each, and more than 80 percent enroll fewer than 5,000.
The current number of 501 school districts is expected to drop to 500 in July, when the Center Area and Monaca school districts northwest of Pittsburgh complete a merger. Declining enrollments have forced both districts to limit the types of courses they can offer to students.
Some other small districts that have explored dissolving boundaries with a neighbor have concluded that the costs of merging outweigh the benefits.
Officials in the rural Halifax and Millersburg school districts north of Harrisburg recently decided that a merger would not produce substantial savings, even though they already share some sports teams and academic programs.
Certain costs would increase because programs offered in just one school district would have to be made available throughout the newly merged school district, said Halifax superintendent Robert Hassinger.
For example, Halifax offers full-day kindergarten and preschool classes, while Millersburg provides only half-day kindergarten, he said.
Residents also feared a loss of community identity if any schools were required to close, Hassinger said. A summary of Rendell's proposal said the consolidations "would not necessitate the closure of individual schools."
"The assumption that bigger is better is incorrect," Hassinger said. "In smaller communities, where there is more connection, a sense of belonging is so essential."
Tim Allwein, a lobbyist for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said his organization hopes to work with the commission but is not convinced that school district mergers save large amounts of money. A merged school district might need to hire additional central-office administrators to oversee programs, he said.
"They're going to need to take a look at the supposed savings that would occur," Allwein said.
The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, has many questions, "not the least of which is how the goal of creating 100 districts from 500 was established," spokesman Wythe Keever said.
The commission would have one year to adopt as many as two merger plans and submit them to the Legislature for approval. If lawmakers reject both options, then the State Board of Education would have the authority to consolidate school districts.
Lawmakers said the idea of getting more school districts to consolidate was worth exploring.
Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said the commission would probably have to recommend abolishing local school property taxes because differences in local tax rates often impede mergers.
"I'm hopeful, but it's a long-range project, and it's good that the governor is getting started on that," said Piccola, R-Dauphin.
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi acknowledged that the prospect of dissolving boundaries is a "very sensitive political issue" for school districts.
"People have a strong identity with their local school district, and local control is ... an aspect of local school districts that is prized by Pennsylvanians," said Pileggi, R-Delaware. "But in this day and age, in 2009, to have 501 superintendents and assistant superintendents and curriculum directors is a very inefficient way to deliver educational services across the state."
Friday, February 6, 2009
Consolidation plan has support, critics
From the BCCT
As long as the plan doesn't turn out like this commentary from "Frazz"...
Consolidation plan has support, critics
Gov. Ed Rendell proposed studying whether the number of districts in Pennsylvania can be slashed from 501 to 100.
By GARY WECKSELBLATT
Ronald Stockham’s ancestors settled in Pennsylvania before William Penn.
A 10th-generation Morrisville resident, he has a historical perspective on the challenges faced by the tiny Morrisville School District of 831 students, which has tried to merge with neighboring Pennsbury.
The move may have gained steam this week when Gov. Ed Rendell proposed creating a commission to study whether the number of school districts in Pennsylvania can be slashed from 501 to 100.
“We need to find more effective ways to make education more efficient,” state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said. “If you really study it, you can determine if there are savings to be gained.”
Stockham, 66 and a Morrisville attorney, is all for a merger with Pennsbury’s 11,064 student body.
“I support and applaud Gov. Rendell’s proposal,” he said. “It’s not efficient to keep throwing money for duplication and services. It’s about time ... long overdue.”
Back in 1933, when Stockham’s mother taught at Morrisville High School, the surrounding school districts of Fallsington, Lower Makefield and Yardley sent their high school students to Morrisville High on a tuition basis.
In the late 1950s, when Stockham attended Morrisville High, Pennsbury High School used Morrisville’s Robert Morris Athletic Field for its home football games and track meets.
“Both historical precedent and current economic conditions indicate that the Morrisville School District and Pennsbury School District should be entering into mutually beneficial arrangements as the right thing to do,” he said.
Back in the 1950s, when it was home to the second shopping center on the east coast, Morrisville had a strong economic base. At that time, Pennsbury sought a merger.
“They’ve been talking about this for decades,” said Mike Fitzpatrick, Morrisville’s solicitor. “It’s never had the support of both districts at the same time.”
Recently, Fitzpatrick has asked Pennsbury and other local districts to consider taking about 300 students in grades nine through 12 on a tuition basis.
Fitzpatrick called Rendell’s plan an affirmation of Morrisville’s recent actions and intent to partner with neighboring districts.
“The Commonwealth can be a partner to assist economically fragile districts by providing incentives for neighboring larger districts to partner with smaller ones.” he said.
Linda Palsky, a member of the Pennsbury School Board, said she’s “very interested” to hear more of Rendell’s plan because “some smaller school districts throughout the state could be better served” by merging.
“But my number one concern is the quality of education for Pennsbury students and the cost to taxpayers, especially as we approach some very, very difficult financial times.”
Rendell contends that fewer districts would mean less of a local tax burden on property owners by spreading the share of school costs over a larger number of people.
It’s been done before. Back in the 1960s, when the Commonwealth had more than 2,000 districts, the state ordered districts to consolidate.
Still, more than 40 percent of the state’s school districts enroll fewer than 2,000 students each, and more than 80 percent enroll fewer than 5,000.
“Almost everyone agrees that Pennsylvania has too many school districts,” Rendell said during Wednesday’s budget address. “This means that we have ever-increasing pressure to increase local property taxes.”
Locally, after Morrisville, Bristol Borough [1,193], New Hope Solebury [1,551], Palisades [1,990] and Upper Moreland [3,041] are the only districts with fewer than 5,000 students. The largest are Central Bucks [20,359], North Penn [12,772], and Pennsbury.
In 2007, Standard & Poor’s reported to the state’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee on the cost-effectiveness of consolidating school districts. It estimated savings would be more likely if the combined enrollments were less than 3,000 students.
Palisades superintendent Francis Barnes, who previously held Zahorchak’s job, questioned whether consolidation actually saves the money it promises.
“It’s a noble goal, but I don’t understand how that would do it,” he said.
Tim Allwein, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, told The Associated Press his organi zation hopes to work with the commission but is not convinced that school district merg ers save large amounts of money
As long as the plan doesn't turn out like this commentary from "Frazz"...
Consolidation plan has support, critics
Gov. Ed Rendell proposed studying whether the number of districts in Pennsylvania can be slashed from 501 to 100.
By GARY WECKSELBLATT
Ronald Stockham’s ancestors settled in Pennsylvania before William Penn.
A 10th-generation Morrisville resident, he has a historical perspective on the challenges faced by the tiny Morrisville School District of 831 students, which has tried to merge with neighboring Pennsbury.
The move may have gained steam this week when Gov. Ed Rendell proposed creating a commission to study whether the number of school districts in Pennsylvania can be slashed from 501 to 100.
“We need to find more effective ways to make education more efficient,” state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said. “If you really study it, you can determine if there are savings to be gained.”
Stockham, 66 and a Morrisville attorney, is all for a merger with Pennsbury’s 11,064 student body.
“I support and applaud Gov. Rendell’s proposal,” he said. “It’s not efficient to keep throwing money for duplication and services. It’s about time ... long overdue.”
Back in 1933, when Stockham’s mother taught at Morrisville High School, the surrounding school districts of Fallsington, Lower Makefield and Yardley sent their high school students to Morrisville High on a tuition basis.
In the late 1950s, when Stockham attended Morrisville High, Pennsbury High School used Morrisville’s Robert Morris Athletic Field for its home football games and track meets.
“Both historical precedent and current economic conditions indicate that the Morrisville School District and Pennsbury School District should be entering into mutually beneficial arrangements as the right thing to do,” he said.
Back in the 1950s, when it was home to the second shopping center on the east coast, Morrisville had a strong economic base. At that time, Pennsbury sought a merger.
“They’ve been talking about this for decades,” said Mike Fitzpatrick, Morrisville’s solicitor. “It’s never had the support of both districts at the same time.”
Recently, Fitzpatrick has asked Pennsbury and other local districts to consider taking about 300 students in grades nine through 12 on a tuition basis.
Fitzpatrick called Rendell’s plan an affirmation of Morrisville’s recent actions and intent to partner with neighboring districts.
“The Commonwealth can be a partner to assist economically fragile districts by providing incentives for neighboring larger districts to partner with smaller ones.” he said.
Linda Palsky, a member of the Pennsbury School Board, said she’s “very interested” to hear more of Rendell’s plan because “some smaller school districts throughout the state could be better served” by merging.
“But my number one concern is the quality of education for Pennsbury students and the cost to taxpayers, especially as we approach some very, very difficult financial times.”
Rendell contends that fewer districts would mean less of a local tax burden on property owners by spreading the share of school costs over a larger number of people.
It’s been done before. Back in the 1960s, when the Commonwealth had more than 2,000 districts, the state ordered districts to consolidate.
Still, more than 40 percent of the state’s school districts enroll fewer than 2,000 students each, and more than 80 percent enroll fewer than 5,000.
“Almost everyone agrees that Pennsylvania has too many school districts,” Rendell said during Wednesday’s budget address. “This means that we have ever-increasing pressure to increase local property taxes.”
Locally, after Morrisville, Bristol Borough [1,193], New Hope Solebury [1,551], Palisades [1,990] and Upper Moreland [3,041] are the only districts with fewer than 5,000 students. The largest are Central Bucks [20,359], North Penn [12,772], and Pennsbury.
In 2007, Standard & Poor’s reported to the state’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee on the cost-effectiveness of consolidating school districts. It estimated savings would be more likely if the combined enrollments were less than 3,000 students.
Palisades superintendent Francis Barnes, who previously held Zahorchak’s job, questioned whether consolidation actually saves the money it promises.
“It’s a noble goal, but I don’t understand how that would do it,” he said.
Tim Allwein, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, told The Associated Press his organi zation hopes to work with the commission but is not convinced that school district merg ers save large amounts of money
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Rendell wants to consolidate 400 PA school districts
From the Inquirer.
OK. Let's look at consolidations. There's a lot of benefits and drawbacks whichever way we choose to go.
Rendell wants to consolidate 400 PA school districts
By Dan Hardy and Kristen A. Graham Posted on Wed, Feb. 4, 2009
Gov. Rendell wants to slash the number of school districts statewide, eliminating about 400 of the current 501 Pennsylvania public school systems.
The controversial proposal would make a more efficient public education system, he said.
"There is nothing sacrosanct about the need to maintain 500 separate school districts across the state - each with its own staggering, and growing, administrative costs," the governor said in his budget address.
Rendell wants a legislative committee to study consolidation and return recommendations within a year.
The revelation came as Rendell proposed to increase Pennsylvania's public school funding by $265.3 million, a 2.8 increase over last year's budget. That's amid proposed cuts in many other state budget items.
"Even in these difficult times, we must not lose sight of the fact that every additional dollar we allocate to public education will benefit our children even as it helps relieve the burden of local property taxes," Rendell said in his budget address today.
Rendell also hopes to provide $550 million in tuition relief to Pennsylvania students who attend state-system schools or community colleges, an initiative he'd like to fund by legalizing video-poker machines at restaurants, private clubs and corner bars.
For basic education funding - the largest portion of the state education budget - the governor proposes an increase of $300 million.
The total proposed budget for public schools is $9.9 billion, which would make up 37 percent of the proposed $26.6 billion budget - the largest single item.
Special education funding would remain flat; money for charter schools and transportation would increase; most other programs would be cut.
Rendell also proposed relieving the burden of school taxes on local residents by drastically cutting the number of school districts, from 500 to no more than 100. A 12-member commission would develop a consolidation plan within a year, under his proposal, with the legislature voting on which of two proposals to accept. If it turned down both, the Department of Education would decide.
"Full-scale school consolidation provides a very effective way to relieve the local property tax burden all across Pennsylvania," Rendell told the legislature. "There is nothing sacrosanct about the need to maintain 500 separate schools districts across the state - each with its own staggering, and growing, administrative costs."
Last year, Rendell proposed to increase state education funding by $2.6 billion over six years to bring all school district up to the level at which they could provide an adequate education for their students. At the urging of the Rendell administration, the legislature enacted a new funding plan for public schools, based on a state study that established the cost of providing an adequate education for all students. The plan set a goal of ramping up basic education subsidies by enough so that within six years, every school district could provide an adequate education to its students.
Basic education funding was increased by $274 million for this school year, the largest dollar increase since 1991, as the first step toward that objective. The Rendell administration set a goal of increasing the subsidy by $2.6 billion by 2013-14.
The formula established a basic per-student payment, then adjusted it to take into account poverty, the number of limited education students, a district's size and its geographic location. Districts with high tax rates and low wealth received more.
To stay on track for delivering the $2.6 billion increase, Rendell had planned to increase basic education funding in this year's budget by $418 million.
The governor is proposing using the same funding formula this year, but, he said, "sadly, we can no longer afford this level of increase, though the need for this funding is no less compelling than before."
The Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign, a coalition of groups that pushed for state funding increases, said in a statement that it supports the governor's proposal.
"It is an important commitment in light of the current economic climate, cuts in other areas of the state budget, and education cuts in other states," said Ron Cowell, president of the Education Policy and Leadership Center and a member of the School Funding Campaign steering Committee.
OK. Let's look at consolidations. There's a lot of benefits and drawbacks whichever way we choose to go.
Rendell wants to consolidate 400 PA school districts
By Dan Hardy and Kristen A. Graham Posted on Wed, Feb. 4, 2009
Gov. Rendell wants to slash the number of school districts statewide, eliminating about 400 of the current 501 Pennsylvania public school systems.
The controversial proposal would make a more efficient public education system, he said.
"There is nothing sacrosanct about the need to maintain 500 separate school districts across the state - each with its own staggering, and growing, administrative costs," the governor said in his budget address.
Rendell wants a legislative committee to study consolidation and return recommendations within a year.
The revelation came as Rendell proposed to increase Pennsylvania's public school funding by $265.3 million, a 2.8 increase over last year's budget. That's amid proposed cuts in many other state budget items.
"Even in these difficult times, we must not lose sight of the fact that every additional dollar we allocate to public education will benefit our children even as it helps relieve the burden of local property taxes," Rendell said in his budget address today.
Rendell also hopes to provide $550 million in tuition relief to Pennsylvania students who attend state-system schools or community colleges, an initiative he'd like to fund by legalizing video-poker machines at restaurants, private clubs and corner bars.
For basic education funding - the largest portion of the state education budget - the governor proposes an increase of $300 million.
The total proposed budget for public schools is $9.9 billion, which would make up 37 percent of the proposed $26.6 billion budget - the largest single item.
Special education funding would remain flat; money for charter schools and transportation would increase; most other programs would be cut.
Rendell also proposed relieving the burden of school taxes on local residents by drastically cutting the number of school districts, from 500 to no more than 100. A 12-member commission would develop a consolidation plan within a year, under his proposal, with the legislature voting on which of two proposals to accept. If it turned down both, the Department of Education would decide.
"Full-scale school consolidation provides a very effective way to relieve the local property tax burden all across Pennsylvania," Rendell told the legislature. "There is nothing sacrosanct about the need to maintain 500 separate schools districts across the state - each with its own staggering, and growing, administrative costs."
Last year, Rendell proposed to increase state education funding by $2.6 billion over six years to bring all school district up to the level at which they could provide an adequate education for their students. At the urging of the Rendell administration, the legislature enacted a new funding plan for public schools, based on a state study that established the cost of providing an adequate education for all students. The plan set a goal of ramping up basic education subsidies by enough so that within six years, every school district could provide an adequate education to its students.
Basic education funding was increased by $274 million for this school year, the largest dollar increase since 1991, as the first step toward that objective. The Rendell administration set a goal of increasing the subsidy by $2.6 billion by 2013-14.
The formula established a basic per-student payment, then adjusted it to take into account poverty, the number of limited education students, a district's size and its geographic location. Districts with high tax rates and low wealth received more.
To stay on track for delivering the $2.6 billion increase, Rendell had planned to increase basic education funding in this year's budget by $418 million.
The governor is proposing using the same funding formula this year, but, he said, "sadly, we can no longer afford this level of increase, though the need for this funding is no less compelling than before."
The Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign, a coalition of groups that pushed for state funding increases, said in a statement that it supports the governor's proposal.
"It is an important commitment in light of the current economic climate, cuts in other areas of the state budget, and education cuts in other states," said Ron Cowell, president of the Education Policy and Leadership Center and a member of the School Funding Campaign steering Committee.
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