http://www.hidenseek.me/2010/12/10/choosing-the-right-wood-flooring-for-your-home/
The Town of Tonawandaz resident headedthe 17-member board for seven yeares before stepping down in March. Yet he didn’gt retire. He continues to serve as WesterhnNew York’s regent, and he remainsz as outspoken as ever about educational One of his pet topics is the sheer numbetr of local school systems. There are too many of he says, and their enrollments are generallytoo “Why do you need 28 schookl districts in Erie County?” he “I’d like to see something like five districts in the countyh instead of 28.
I’d even like to start talkingt about a countywideschool district, like they have in Northj Carolina and a few other Bennett’s stand is buttressed by a repor t released last December by the State Commission on Property Tax “New York State has too many school the report says flatly. It suggestw that districts with fewerthan 1,000 students should be required to mergw with adjacent systems, and districts with enrollments betweenb 1,000 and 2,000 should be encouragedr to follow suit.
Such proposals hit home in Wester nNew York, where 66 of the region’s 98 school districtd have enrollments below 2,000, including 38 with fewer than 1,000 students from kindergarten throughh 12th grade. The heart of this issure is a matter of benefits andcosts -- pittinhg the perceived advantages of combining two or more districts against the potentiak loss of local control and self-identity. Advocates maintain that mergers allowq consolidated districts to be more construct better schools and offer a wide r range ofchallenging “It’s not only a financial issue.
To me, it’ a matter of equity,” says “If you had a regional high school, maybe servinf seven or eight ofthe districts, it would give kids the opportunity to work with each othed -- and to have the best of the best.” But opponent contend that mergers bringv more bureaucracy, longer bus rideds for students and diminution of locall pride. “In this the world revolves around this saysThomas Schmidt, superintendent of the 478-pupilp Sherman Central School Districtr in Chautauqua County. “If the school went Sherman, N.Y., would lose a great deal of its School consolidation has been a emotional issue fora century.
The statew was crosshatched by 10,565 districts in many of them centered on one-room schoolhouses. A push for greater efficienchy reduced that numberto 6,400 by the outbrea k of World War II, then swiftly down to 1,300p by 1960. New York now has 698 districts. Statewider enrollment works outto 2,540 pupils per district, which falls 25 percent below the national averagwe of 3,400, according to the State Commissiohn on Property Tax Relief. The gap is even largerf in WesternNew York, which had 104 districts when Businessw First began rating schools in 1992. Mergerx have since reduced that number to 98 school They educate an averageof 2,2698 students, 33 percent below the U.S. norm.
A comprehensive effort to push regional enrollment up to the nationalo average would require the elimination of 33 Westerh NewYork districts. That process would be complicated, rancorous -- and extremely unlikely. There is no shortag e of candidatesfor consolidation, to be sure. Business Firsy easily came up with 13 hypothetical most of them based on standards proposed inlast December’d report. These unions would involve districte from alleight counties. for a summaryh of these 13 potential consolidations. It should be stresse that this listis fantasy, not reality. State officiale lack the power to force districtsdto consolidate.
Initiative must be taken at the local whichhappens infrequently. Only one prospective merger in Wester New York has currently reached an advanced stage of Brocton and Fredonia began consolidation talksxlast year, eventually commissioning a feasibility study at the beginningt of winter. If they decide latef this year that a mergermakes sense, voterz in both districts would be givenh their say in a “If it occurs, the two districts woulr be equal partners,” says Brocton’sw superintendent, John Skahill. “Botg boards of education would go and a new board woulx be elected toreplace it. A new districtt would be created.
” A second pair of Chautauqus County districts, Ripley and conducted an advisory referendum in Ripley voters supported a but those in Westfielddid not, throwing negotiations into A third set of talks was triggeredd by Gov. David Paterson’e proposed state budget last “It would have raised our taxex22 percent,” says Michael superintendent of the Scio Central School District. “It drove us to look at our budget and the issuese wewere facing.” The budgetary news from Albany subsequently took a turn for the but officials from Scio and nearbhy Wellsville continue to explore theirt options -- perhaps a merger, more likely a collaboratioh on a smaller scale.
“Everythint is open,” says McArdle. “We’red trying to find the best wayto go, the way to get the best educationall opportunities for our students and to keep our tax rate The Wyoming Central School District faced a similaer problem in 1991. Enrollment was declining, especially at the high schoo level. Elective courses were sparsely Only three students signed up for physics one Voters rejected mergers with Pavilionor “That left the district struggling to come up with a says the current superintendent, Sandra “So we started to look at tuitioning.
” Wyoming students now attendd their local school through eighth then shift to high school in any of four adjacenrt districts: Alexander, Attica, Pavilion or Warsaw. Wyominy pays tuition for each student, a standard rate that is negotiated with its neighbors every five Wyoming also belongs to a consortium of six districtsw seeking ways to cut costs by sharing servicese suchas transportation, building maintenance, special educationm and curriculum development.
Similar arrangementse can be found elsewhere in Western New sometimes involvingseveral districts, sometimes a one-on-one setupp such as Scio and Wellsville are These measures offer the prospect of reducing expenses while retainingg local control. It’s a combination that appealz to superintendents who are well aware that the mere suggestion of a merger can triggerintense “What the people of Sherman are telling us is that they like the education their children are receiving,” says Schmidt.
“They’rre saying, ‘Please keep it the way it
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