Every now and then we read about issues impacting school districts in our State, but more often we read about such issues on Long Island.
As noted in an Op Ed piece in Newsday on November 23rd, Dr. Marc Bernstein, Superintendent of the Valley Stream Central High School District, pointed out that there are 124 school districts out of the 700 in all of New York State.
So, that would be 124 school districts in just two out of the sixty-two counties in the State, which means that there are 576 school districts in sixty other counties in the State; if you asked for a numerical comparison (which is really far from ideal, but useful as a broad indicator) that would be a distribution of an average of 9.6 school districts for each of those other sixty counties, versus an average of 62.0 school districts for each of Nassau County and Suffolk County.
But, even if you were to adjust for single county school districts, or in the case of the City of New York a single school district for five counties, it is clear that there is a gross inefficiency in the structure of school districts in both Nassau County and Suffolk County.
While this inefficiency is usually identified as solely a cost inefficiency, it also has an impact upon curriculum diversity for students of small or medium sized districts since some districts might eliminate electives where the class size is either shrinking, or has been relatively low (contrasted with most electives) for a number of years.
After all, in an era in which school property taxes have been rapidly escalating for many years, many districts can no longer afford to cover the cost of personnel in classes with very low average sizes. But, to simply eliminate those classes would diminish the education opportunities for many students, and one way to retain the opportunity, while reducing costs, is to create a larger pool of students which could generate an economy of scale in class size.
Still, even for larger school districts, and certainly for all others, cost containment itself is an important consideration and the proliferation of school districts means that taxpayers are effectively subsidizing duplicative administrative costs, and some staff costs, that are in desperate need of reduction as other expenses keep rising.
Dr. Bernstein is not the first responsible adult to suggest that consolidation of school districts is something that will ultimately need to take place on Long Island, yet it has not happened with great frequency. State Law allows districts (as long as they are contiguous) to merge, if the voters of both (or more) districts approve such a merger.
Like many things, you need consenting parties, and to determine whether that might be possible, you need school district management and boards of education with the vision and creativity to explore such a possibility.
After all, no auto mechanic would go an replace parts on your engine to “fix” your car without first examining the computer codes from your Engine Control Module and Engine Management System.
Similarly, no attorney would offer you advice on a particular complicated issue which you might present, without first researching both New York statutes and case law on the matter.
And no financial advisor would give you a specific investment strategy without first understanding your economic circumstances and then researching the stock and bond performance data on instruments which might be suitable for you.
Study, research, investigation, and then dialogue, are the requirements for the prudent manager or technical advisor, and that includes, for matters such as potential district consolidation, superintendents of schools and their boards. Nobody would pretend that anything like this is a “slam dunk,” or a “no brainer,” as there are many related issues that would arise with consolidation.
But, to go on in life by metaphorically sticking one’s head in the sand, and ignoring potential options for each school district which could have favorable impacts on both students and taxpayers of a district, would be no more than profligate irresponsibility.
The Long Island school districts are, as a group, heading toward either massive cuts that would irreparably damage education for our children, or massive increases in costs that really can no longer be sustained (even in good economic times) and would effectively force many people from their homes.
That is why I was greatly impressed by the Elwood Superintendent of Schools, Peter Scordo, who has announced that he and the Elwood Board of Education will host a special Consolidation Workshop for the public on January 6th, in the Elwood Middle School Auditorium.
His announcement, which is available from the Home page of the Elwood School District, also indicated that the Elwood Board of Education has decided to send exploratory letters to the boards and superintendents of the contiguous school districts (Commack, Half Hollow Hills, Harborfields, Northport-East Northport, and South Huntington) “…to ascertain interest in holding joint meetings to explore the issues surrounding possible consolidation.”
Dialogue is the first step in any rational investigation, and Elwood has now sent a spark which could generate, over time, profound effects for Long Island students and taxpayers.
