By Roger Smith, special to Statehouse Report | Does the above headline make sense? It sure doesn’t make any form of common sense. That is if you take a minute to think about it.
Recent discussion that South Carolina should consider consolidating school districts with small student enrollment, and thought is being given to consolidate some districts with financial and academic performance struggles.
Mmmm, let us take a minute to think about this.
- How will this help the students in these districts overcome the poverty that surrounds them and their families?
- How will consolidation improve academic achievement, when research shows that small schools and small systems offer students of poverty the best opportunities to achieve?
- How will consolidation lead the S.C, General Assembly to stop underfunding by about $345 million our children’s education?
- How will district consolidation make the traditional public-school advocates stop giving the legislature a pass when it underfunds public schools’ year, after year, after year?
- Will consolidation of some of the rural school districts cause the legislature to restore the cuts made to these same schools (12 percent reduction in funding) since the 2008 recession?
It appears the answer is district consolidation will have no impact or possibly a negative impact on improving financial and education performance. So then, why should school district consolidation be a topic of discussion at the state level?
District and school consolidation is a local issue and should be decided by the local citizens. All aspects of consolidation should be considered. There are many ways to achieve cost effectiveness. One being stop passing unfunded mandates, which impact small rural school districts more than wealthier districts. Also, consolidation tends to negatively impact local economies and be detrimental to districts’ fiscal capacity.
Before, we have any of these discussions, all rural leaders, businesses and citizens must organize and focus the discussions and actions on achieving education equal opportunity and not be sidetracked by such distractions as a discussion around consolidation.
Roger Smith, former executive director of the S.C. Education Association, currently serves as president of the S.C. Organization for Rural Schools.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!
Isn’t it likely that the consolidated schools will be just as underfunded as the smaller schools. The only thing I know that benefits is the athletic programs and not always those.
Study the consolidation of Marion County District 3 and District 4 into District 7 many years ago, when the smallest school district and the poorest school district, both academically under performing, were combined. How have the students fared?