Bucks
Rendell Plan Consolidate
Dear Friends,
Good morning. What would your reaction be if your child or grandchild told you that her/his school was merging into another school? For example, would you be alarmed if the East Penn school district were merged into Southern Lehigh or Parkland; or Palisades into Quakertown or Pennridge; New Hope-Solebury into Central Bucks?
Governor Ed Rendell is proposing that the state legislature explore his notion of reducing the 501 school districts in Pennsylvania to 100 or less. Has he become a lightening rod before an approaching political storm?
For decades, politicians at every level, from congress to school boards, have reinforced the notion that “local control” equals quality in education. If that’s true, why does public education lag behind the Asian and European competition?
Curious, I called six school superintendents and four state legislators for their reactions to Rendell’s idea. Their comments were varied, to say the least.
Dr. Thomas Seidenberger is the Superintendent of the East Penn School District. “It sounds great but…” he began. “I went through attempts at consolidation when I was in New Jersey. It wasn’t easy.
“The local control question is enormous,” Seidenberger continued. “Would we need to offer the same Advance Placement courses to a smaller [school] district like Salisbury or Southern Lehigh if it merged with us? The teachers’ contracts are different. Which one would we use? What if we have a longer school year than a school merging with us? Who owns the buildings? It’s like peeling an onion. Consolidation may actually be more expensive.”
Rob Wonderling (R-24th district) is the State Senator for Seidenberger’s school system. Wonderling represents 17 school districts, eight in this region. “The Senate Finance Committee studied consolidation in the last session,” he told me. “Where would merging school districts save money? Probably in the rural counties,” he answered.
But Wonderling doubted that mergers would provide savings in the southeastern counties.
“We should look at the intermediate units,” he continued. “In business, we try to eliminate the middle man. Other than serving special need students, intermediate units may be an unnecessary cost.” And then he asked the explosive question.
“Do we want a more detached basis than local control?” he asked. “That’s not the Pennsylvania tradition.”
“Consolidation’s not a bad idea,” Dr. Lisa Andrejko replied. The Superintendent of the Quakertown School District thought that the legislature should study Governor Rendell’s proposal.
“The consolidation question would give school districts the opportunity to equalize the haves and the have nots,” she added.
Andrejko was referring to the quality of education, which often depends upon the zip code, and the real estate taxes which follow. She compared the New Hope-Solebury and Bristol school districts. Both are small but one is rich and the other is poor.
“Do you sacrifice individuality?” Andrejko asked as she brought up the local control argument. “Maybe legislative districts and municipalities should be consolidated too.”
“Consolidation’s not going any place with our school board,” Dr. Francis Barnes began. The Superintendent of the Palisades School District said that the board will continue to monitor the subject, “And if it gains traction, we’ll look at it again,” he said.
“I don’t look for trouble,” Barnes told me with a laugh. “Trouble normally finds me.”
“Bigger is not always better,” State Representative Paul Clymer (R-145) began. “Consolidation might be OK in rural areas…and if school districts are willing, OK. But don’t mandate mergers. We shouldn’t tell school boards what to do. Especially in my district. The schools are well run and doing a good job.
“I haven’t seen any specifics,” Clymer continued. “I’ll wait and see. What would the economy of scale be?”
But Clymer noted that the three high schools in the Central Bucks School District were successful. “Students have a better chance to explore academics and extra curricular activities than if Central Bucks were one huge high school,” he said.
“What a sound bite!” Dr. Robert Kish exclaimed to Governor Rendell’s consolidation plan. “Can you imagine 400 school districts giving up local control?” he asked. “What nonsense. Do you think that 3,600 school board members will quietly disappear?
“The Governor ran this idea up the flag pole and it’s not going anywhere,” Kish continued. “I don’t think that the Governor is serious. What’s the incentive for consolidation? How would existing debt be shared?
“It’s true that larger districts can be more efficient,” Kish said. “Central Bucks [school district] is the third largest in the state and it saves administration costs. But…” Kish paused, “smaller is better than bigger.”
“Why not study consolidation?” Dr. Timothy Kirby told me. “If there’s savings, let’s examine it,” the Superintendent of the Upper Perkiomen School district continued. “We need ways to get more dollars into the classroom. I’m not in favor of increasing classroom size…but cutting administration costs is a good idea.”
Bob Mensch (R-147) is Kirby’s State Representative. “Ideas deserve investigation, but the Governor’s plan is a distraction,” Mensch began “No one in the legislature will view this seriously because the Governor’s consolidation idea is not specific.
“There are several Pennsylvania school districts that are distressed and merging would help,” Mensch said. “But, how big is big enough? The Governor’s idea is a red herring. It’s the wrong time to increase spending.”
“The first thing we should do is to study the 2007 General Assembly’s report [about consolidation],” Dr. Charles Amuso began. The Souderton School District Superintendent said that he’d appreciate a commission’s analysis.
“What is the best school size,” he wondered aloud? “Is it the number of students…the square miles? What should the cost per student be?”
He noted that there is only one school district in Warren County. Forrest County has only 500 students, he added. And like most of the others, Amuso brought up the subject of local control.
State Senator Chuck McIlhinney (R-10th District) had several thoughts. “I won’t criticize the Governor’s proposal,” McIlhinney began. “I’m reluctant to put a number on school consolidation like 100. But there are districts that are stranded.”
He gave the Morrisville School District as an example. “In 1960, there were 30,000 jobs in Morrisville because of the presence of U.S. Steel. Today, the plant employs just 200 workers. The Morrisville School only has 800 students but it’s still maintaining three huge schools.
“Morrisville School’s property tax has been wiped out,” McIlhinney continued. “The school should be merged into the Pennsbury School District.”
Does Pennsbury want Morrisville is the question? I bet not.
“On the other hand, look at the New Hope-Solebury School District,” McIlhinney suggested. The school district is one of the smallest in the state. “But why would you merge New Hope-Solebury? It’s successful. It has high academic scores and plenty of resources.
“Consolidations should happen if student needs aren’t met,” McIlhinney concluded. “The Governor called for a study and I’m supporting the concept. There’s a constitutional requirement that calls for equal education…but no requirement about the number of school districts.”
Of course, we’ll have to wait and see. Stay tuned.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith