Consolidation Is Not The Answer To More Efficient School Spending
School consolidation advocates argue that combining several small districts into one larger district provides a simple way to reduce administrative costs and free up dollars for the classroom.
For example, during the recent Ohio budget debate one Ohio legislator suggested that “[c]utting administrative costs would mean more money for classroom costs.” While consolidation may cut administrative costs, consolidation often increases expenditures in other areas such as transportation. In addition, consolidated schools often generate the lower academic achievement of their students, thereby causing school districts to lag in terms of achievement per dollar spent.
Advocates of school consolidation generally cite the principle of economies of scale as a justification. An economy of scale is the concept that larger organizations are more efficient because of their size. For example, instead of having two superintendents for two districts of 1,000 students, it is more efficient to have one superintendent for one district of 2,000 students.
While conceptually correct, in reality schools exhibit few economies of scale. This occurs for many reasons, including mission creep, or the idea that “the larger a school district gets, the more resources it devotes to secondary or even non-essential activities.” In other words, sizeable bureaucratic schools tend to lose sight of their main objective -- education -- as the organization grows too large.
Other concerns of those against school consolidation include a loss of community, less local involvement of parents on the school board and one-on-one attention from educators to students, more drifts towards school violence, and proven drops in academic achievement.
Consolidated school districts in Eastern Kentucky have fared worse on their Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills than smaller districts. In Alaska, Representative Albert Kookesh states, “Consolidation threatens local control and raises a community’s fears about losing it’s school, which is often the central gathering place where activities from basketball games to dances take place.”
In Pennsylvania, some legislators are trying to consolidate 501 districts into 67, but Pennsylvania Representative Daryl Metcalfe argues, “I don’t believe that you’re going to find the support to pass something like this…You have very large school districts that aren’t performing the way they should. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are having major problems, and I think those are good examples of what happens when school districts get too large.”
Parents concerned with school violence may note that in a study by the U.S. Department of Education, “compared to schools with fewer than 300 students, big schools [1,000 or more] have 825 percent more violent crime, 270 percent more vandalism, 394 percent more fights and assaults and 1000 percent more weapons incidents.”
The evidence of lower achievement, concerns about local community and control, and problems of larger districts is not limited to Kentucky, Alaska, and Pennsylvania. Ohio citizens and educators are reluctant to consolidate their districts as well.
Parents and students of Grandview Heights School District, a small region in central Ohio, like the size of their district. A parent, Mindy Blackwell, claims,” [Teachers] know my children,” and student Arthur Friscoe commented that “You get more one-on-one attention.”
In Bucyrus, Ohio, where a consolidation plan has been proposed to merge high schools across district lines, resident Brenda Gosser argues, “All my kids went to Crestline schools, I just don’t think it would work. There might be some things to gain, but the face that both schools would lost their identity isn’t good.”
Finally, even if consolidation saves money, sufficient evidence remains that student performance worsens as school size increases. This may be especially true for poor students. A study by professors of education at Ohio University found that “smaller schools whether rural or urban, reduced the adverse effects of poverty.”
Finding school-funding solutions remain a difficult task and policymakers should not be faulted for considering a wide array of solutions. At the same time, however, legislators should not lose sight of the ultimate goal, which is maximizing student achievement per dollar spent. Using that criterion, school consolidation should be rejected.
Paige Kohn is a former research intern with The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions.
