Despite
benefits, consolidations face
opposition
Sunday, September 26, 200 • By EDWARD
SIEGER • The Express-Times
In his 30 years with the Pennsylvania Department of
Education, Ron Stainbrook often gave financially strapped
school districts advice on how to run more effectively.
His department explored every facet of a district's
budget to find solutions.
Merging with a neighboring district was always a
possibility. But Stainbrook said his reports seldom
mentioned such an option.
"Because quite frankly it seems to be a lost cause,"
said Stainbrook, who retired from the department over the
summer.
While homeowners grumble and groan louder and louder
about escalating property taxes as state lawmakers fail to
craft meaningful property tax reform, at least one
Pennsylvania legislator says it's time to consider trimming
the administrative fat and consolidating the state's
hundreds of school districts.
But school board associations in Pennsylvania and New
Jersey say such a decision should be made only at the local
level, and legislators should make mergers more financially
attractive if states are serious about consolidation.
In a report issued last year, the Brookings
Institution's Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy argued
that Pennsylvania's burdensome system of local government
could undercut the state's economic competitiveness. The web
of Pennsylvania's 2,633 counties, townships, boroughs and
cities -- the third most of any state -- hinders planning
among municipalities and adds to the cost of government, the
report surmised.
Could the same be said for Pennsylvania's 501 school
districts and New Jersey's 616 districts, dozens of which
educate fewer than 1,000 students?
A formal study has never been done to determine how much
could be saved statewide if districts were to merge,
Stainbrook said.
"But if you look at salaries and benefits and do the
simple math, it would be a great savings," he said.
Administrative costs a
large part of burden
Collectively, Northampton County's eight district
superintendents earn nearly $900,000 annually, and Lehigh
County's nine district superintendents earn more than $1
million a year.
In New Jersey, Hunterdon County's 29 superintendents and
chief school administrators earn nearly $3.4 million
annually, while their 23 counterparts in Warren County earn
a collective $2.64 million annually.
In terms of size, the Wilson Area and Easton Area school
districts educate a combined 10,533 students in 14 schools.
But the two districts together still don't surpass the
Bethlehem Area School District's roughly 14,442 students in
22 schools.
In Northampton County's less densely populated Slate
Belt, neighboring Pen Argyl and Bangor Area school
districts' combined student population of about 5,477 barely
surpasses Northampton Area School District's population of
5,472. The Bethlehem School District has twice the number of
elementary schools, 16, than Pen Argyl and Bangor have
elementary, middle and high schools.
Of New Jersey's 616 school districts, 23 districts don't
even have a school and 171 districts are served by a single
building.
Hunterdon County's Bloomsbury Borough district has one
building with about 139 students in grades kindergarten
through eighth. The Milford Boro district's single school
educates about 127 students in grades kindergarten through
eighth.
Separate pieces of legislation in 1963 and 1966
respectively reduced Pennsylvania's number of school
districts to 742 and the current 501, eliminating a system
in which each county had a superintendent and each district
employed a supervising principal who held many of the same
duties as a superintendent.
In many instances, once-strong industries that had
bolstered communities and their school districts dwindled or
disappeared, leaving populations decimated and districts too
small to manage resources effectively, Stainbrook said.
"I think you had the same situation that frankly you
have right now," he said. "Some schools are so small to
provide a certain level of education."
As many as 60 Pennsylvania districts serve fewer than
1,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12th,
Stainbrook said. It can be difficult for smaller districts
to offer a wide range of courses because fewer teachers mean
they must often hold multiple teaching certificates and such
instructors are hard to find, he said.
"People would think districts should be small, but what
they mean is schools should be small," Stainbrook said.
"When districts are that small they tend not to be effective
as they should be."
Stainbrook sees Maryland's system of county-based school
districts or even districts based on Pennsylvania's 29
intermediate units as plausible ideas. Short of formal
mergers, districts could at least begin sharing teachers or
services such as three or four business managers serving a
handful of smaller districts, he said.
"That would be a good start," Stainbrook said.
But economic differences, engrained district identities
and athletics likely prevent mergers, and state lawmakers
are probably reluctant to promote consolidation legislation
"for fear of upsetting a lot of folks," Stainbrook
said.
"Athletics probably plays a role, a larger role than I
would like to think," Stainbrook said.
If the day comes when districts voluntarily approach the
Department of Education about a merger, it's unlikely a
sound proposal would be met with resistance.
"There is no doubt we would approve it," Stainbrook
said. "We don't want to deal with 501 school
districts."
Old complaints bedevil
newly formed districts
Mary Kusler, a senior legislative specialist with the
American Association of School Administrators, cautions
against considering consolidations in a vacuum. Lawmakers
and administrators can't make a general decision to
consolidate schools just to save money, she said.
"A school is very much allied with its community,"
Kusler said. "When a community loses its school in New
Jersey or Pennsylvania it loses a piece of its identity. If
you talk to superintendents who have gone through a
consolidation, one of the most difficult discussions is
which mascot to keep."
In Maine, population decline prompted a few communities
to voluntarily consider and ultimately choose to merge, she
said. West Virginia moved to county-based school districts
about 10 years ago, and complaints continue about the time
students spend on buses, Kusler said.
Parents and officials question how much money was really
saved considering transportation costs, she said.
A district of 10,000 students works well in some cases,
but there's no research indicating that's an optimal figure,
Kusler said.
"There's just no magic number as to what works," she
said, adding any decision to merge should be made
locally.
Consolidation would help
poorer districts
Other ambitious educational initiatives proposed by
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell have prevented state Rep.
Jennifer Mann from formally proposing such a measure, but
she agrees consolidation is an idea whose time has come
because "501 school districts is more administration than we
need."
"Pennsylvania has nearly 2,700 municipalities and 501
school districts," said Mann, D-Lehigh. "There has to be a
better way to organize government."
Further consolidation could also do a lot for a
struggling school district like Allentown which is contained
entirely within city limits, Mann said. Residents often say
they don't want to leave the city, but have concerns with
the school district, she said.
The result is an exodus to the suburbs and regional
school districts like Parkland, Mann said. If the state
could convince districts like Parkland to merge with
districts like Allentown, similar unions could go a long way
in stabilizing cities and neighborhoods, she said.
Mann contends it may take financial incentives before
wealthier districts would even consider such mergers and
take on someone else's debt.
"Initially, we'd have to spend some money to essentially
convince wealthier districts to buy in," she said.
Allentown School District, for instance, receives a
higher ratio of state aid per student because of income
levels, Mann said. If Parkland ever agreed to a merger, the
state could temporarily fund the district at the same aid
levels as Allentown until a unified district could take
advantage of economies of scale, she said.
But the same potential hurdles cited by others are the
same heard by Mann -- sports, rivalries and a loss of local
control.
At the risk of slighting the hard work turned in by
volunteer school board members across the state, Mann said,
concerns over local control shouldn't be as large a concern
as some think.
"State and federal mandates really take a lot of
decisions out of their hands," she said. "The concept of
local control is really almost a myth."
School boards group
straddles the fence
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association has not taken
a formal position on consolidation, although some areas of
the state could probably benefit from such a move, said
Timothy Allwein, assistant executive director for
governmental and member relations.
Allwein doesn't think consolidation of school districts,
however, is a popular idea in Pennsylvania where people
"have a lot of loyalty to one's institutions."
"Somehow, policy makers in Harrisburg have to break down
a desire to stay in a district (residents) have been in
their entire life," he said. "Maybe it's because of our
aging population, but citizens in Pennsylvania don't like to
see institutions changed."
Since the last major consolidation, population loss has
left some regions with 20 school districts to serve 60,000
students compared to 180,000 students 40 years ago, offering
a good argument for another mandatory consolidation, Allwein
said. The PSBA has not formally supported the idea, in part,
because no type of incentive to merge has ever been
proposed, he said.
Other potential hurdles include transportation issues
and deciding which administrators would be hired for a new
consolidated district, Allwein said. In creating one
district of 20,000 students from a few districts of 5,000
students, the same amount of administration may be needed to
handle special education and curriculum, he said.
Budgets are getting tighter, and PSBA fully supports
collaboration such as purchasing supplies or sharing special
education teachers, Allwein said. As for a loss of local
control, he agrees the days of strong local control are
behind.
"Let's say you have a district with four
municipalities," he said. "What's the difference between
having four versus eight? I guess the bottom line is how do
you define local."
Perhaps the answer is to consolidate districts only in
areas of the state where it makes the most sense, Allwein
said. And with population dwindling in some regions, Allwein
envisions some type of legislation in eight to 10 years that
establishes benchmarks requiring some districts to
merge.
In January, New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey asked the
Department of Education to come up with ways to streamline
administrative costs. One idea is to eliminate the state's
23 nonoperating school districts -- the districts which have
no schools and send their students to other districts on a
tuition basis.
"What the governor proposed made a good political sound
bite, but it didn't play out in reality," said Frank
Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards
Association.
McGreevey mischaracterized nonoperating districts as
"bureaucracies for their own purposes," Belluscio said. Such
districts, including Hardwick Township and Glen Gardner,
employ only a part-time clerk and are served by volunteer
school boards, he said.
"They're not contributing to property tax increases,"
Belluscio said.
He argues that administrative costs "are not out of
line" because New Jersey ranks 20th nationally in percentage
of school funding spent on administration. Since 1989,
administrative costs have increased .01 percent compared to
a 27 percent increase in student spending and a 28 percent
increase in teachers' salaries, Belluscio said.
"Resources are going to the classrooms," he said.
The problem is the state's failure to adequately fund
its share of public education, Belluscio said, a similar
complaint voiced by Pennsylvania administrators and
lawmakers for years. New Jersey funds about 39 percent of
districts' spending compared to the 50 percent national
average, he said.
With more than 600 school districts, there's probably
some room for regionalism, but lawmakers run the risk of
increasing school costs by forcing consolidation, Belluscio
said.
Mergers could eliminate some chief administrative
positions, but force the addition of more midlevel
administrators, he said. And if staff salaries are higher in
one district than the other, chances are salaries in a
unified school district would rise, Belluscio said.
Mergers could also result in less state aid if one
district qualifies for aid while the other does not, he
said.
"There's a 50/50 chance you could save some money,"
Belluscio said.
Ultimately, politics still
stands in the way
A former state representative from Allegheny County, Ron
Cowell agrees there is little political appetite for
consolidating districts.
"Few things generate such an emotional outcry than
consolidating districts," he said.
Cowell -- now president of the Educational Policy and
Leadership Center in Harrisburg -- says the issue is worth
examining because the high number of districts helps
perpetuate what he calls "just about the worst school
finance system in the country."
If a school district has shopping malls and a viable
industrial center, the district will be wealthier and school
property taxes are potentially less of burden on taxpayers,
Cowell said. But a declining business center and no industry
means a high millage rate generating little revenue, he
said.
Locally, the Wilson Area School District -- with little
industry in Williams Township and Wilson, West Easton and
Glendon boroughs -- has the highest property tax rate in the
county at 43.1 mills to support the county's second lowest
budget at $24.9 million.
Along with drastically trimming the number of
administrators, a county-based school system would allow
districts to benefit from a county-wide tax base, Cowell
said.
Cowell acknowledges it's difficult to say with certainty
whether dramatically fewer school districts would mean
dramatically lower costs, considering transportation costs
associated with larger districts. But as small districts
struggle to offer extra curricular and academic programs, a
change may be inevitable.
"Sooner or later, I think we will have to make changes
so there are a fewer number of school districts," Cowell
said. "We don't have 501 economically and academically
viable school districts. Some districts want to get married,
but nobody wants to marry them."
Reporter Edward Sieger can be reached at 610-258-7171 or
by e-mail at esieger@express-times.com.
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