More merger talk
Cambria County state Sen. John Wozniak still wants a government commission to study how to consolidate Pennsylvania schools. His idea is similar to what Gov. Ed Rendell proposed earlier this year.
Wozniak wants a 15-member commission that would hold 20 public hearings around the state before putting forward a plan to realign districts, according to the Associated Press.
Rendell said the state should aim for about 100 school districts, but Wozniak isn't setting a goal yet.
What do you think? Should there be mergers? If so, how should it happen? If not, why not?
Wozniak wants a 15-member commission that would hold 20 public hearings around the state before putting forward a plan to realign districts, according to the Associated Press.
Rendell said the state should aim for about 100 school districts, but Wozniak isn't setting a goal yet.
What do you think? Should there be mergers? If so, how should it happen? If not, why not?
Labels: Merger
posted by Dawn Keller at
2:27 PM
1 Comments:
First of all let me say that had I not read your article in the O-R re twitter I probably would not have known you had a blog. I also see that no comments have been posted. Let me add that as a member of the C-M School Board I do have some thoughts re mergers.
The concept of a merger is usually based on achieving better outcomes, i.e., efficiencies and effectiveness. The Gov indicates he wants to reduce the number of school districts. This may be commendable from his stand point and to be fair probably should be done in some manner. The question is what are the outcomes? Any merger(s) will take time to sort out the unique concerns of the merging Districts. (Note: The Defense Dept still has not figured out how to merge the military services in any meaningful way and they have been at it for over 50 years.)
Let’s say we do reduce the number of Districts from 500 to 100. There would be a smaller group of Districts and probably s few less administrators. The number of students would remain the same, the number of teachers would remain the same and the overall cost to operate the schools would remain the same. The total cost savings would be minimal. Unless the Gov is suggesting the number of teachers be reduced as well as the number of buildings.
In any merger the primary cost savings usually come from reduced costs (efficiencies). If no teacher reductions occur there are no savings. Teacher costs are the major part of any school districts budget. The Gov’s Costing Out Study indicates that the State’s contribution to the overall cost of education falls short. This issue forces local Districts to keep raising taxes just to stay even. (Note: The ACT 1 index is being lowered annually so Districts have tighter budget constraints as time goes on.) The State is having major budget problems of its own so the funds for education continue to be less. The Federal stimulus funds are focused and time driven so they only provide some focused relief in a growing hole.
Then there is the operation and maintenance of the schools themselves. With the same number of students and teachers the number of buildings will stay the same until new construction comes into play. This could be several years.
The cost of transportation and food services are also considerations. (Note: The Gov did propose a “Common Cents” program but it raised more questions than it answered and the promised support and assistance from the Gov never materialized. Also, many of the proposed saving suggestions were already in place.)
This is only a surface list of concerns. I am sure there are many more significant issues, e.g., blending teacher salaries, food costs, administrative costs, academic programs and others.
Having said this there are probably some Districts which could benefit from merging. The issue is which ones and how? The goal is to produce a better outcome (Effectiveness) that takes into account better cost efficiencies. This is not something where one size fits all. Can mergers work and produce better outcomes? Of course they can but they will work better if the individual Districts work out the merger rather than have the State force the merger. But I say by all means let’s have the discussion.
Bob Malwitz
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