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wifostarz
Senior Member
USA
5984 Posts Likes0 |
 Posted - 02/22/2010 : 11:08:00 AM
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http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/Report-Consolidate-Ohios-613-School-Districts/xQnURb5Cw0KabRxOk0AxsQ.cspx
Report: Consolidate Ohio's 613 School Districts
Reported by: Bill Price
Email: bprice@wcpo.com
Last Update: 10:47 am
Report: Consolidate Ohio's 613 School Districts
Restoring Prosperity Report
Do You Think Ohio Should Consolidate Its School Districts?
Yes, As Many As Possible (38.1%)
Some Smaller Districts Shoul Be Consolidated (40.7%)
No, Leave The Districts As They Are (21.2%)CINCINNATI -- A new report says Ohio is spending too much on local school administration and not enough on student instruction because it has far too many individual school districts.
If the Brookings Institution and the Greater Ohio Policy Center had their way, we might, emphasis on might, see districts like Finneytown Local Schools being pushed to merge with its neighboring suburban school districts in Mount Healthy and North College Hill.
The groups say 613 school districts in Ohio is about a third, or over 200 districts, too many.
Their newly released report "Restoring Prosperity" recommends the state to look at consolidating as many as 200 of its smaller public school districts into larger ones. It says the money saved on district administration could be put into improving student instruction across the state.
Among the report's findings are that while Ohio ranks ninth nationwide in public school administration spending, money for student instruction in primary schools is much lower at 47th.
However, there are big questions about how school district mergers would go over with parents and local communities who might worry they'll lose control of their local schools.
It's also unclear who would push for school district consolidation. Published reports indicate the issue is not on the agenda of the Ohio Department of Education.
Individual school districts could decide to merge on their own, but it's uncertain how the Ohio legislature and Ohio Governor Ted Strickland would, if they wanted to, force smaller districts to merge into larger ones.
The report also looked at other ways Ohio can improve its economy and prosperity. It has high praise for state efforts to improve biomedical research in Ohio.
It says Cincinnati and Cleveland are leading the way nationally in biomedical patents. |
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John Beagle
Advanced Member
USA
16025 Posts Likes0 |
Posted - 02/22/2010 : 3:58:37 PM
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| That could be bad news for a small district like Monroe. |
"I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody" #BillCosby |
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Tom B
Senior Member
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Posted - 02/23/2010 : 07:58:48 AM
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| Yes, lets save a lot of money and consolidate with Middletown again, and share their educational advantages. If the smaller districts have much higher costs, it is largely due to poor management, not their size. Monroe is one of the state's smaller districts, yet runs at just about the lowest cost per student in the county. And big districts? How do they run? Many cost twice per student as Monroe. This is a power grab, and nothing more. |
Tom Birdwell
Opinions written here are mine alone, and may not reflect the views of other board members.
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Tom B
Senior Member
5357 Posts Likes0 |
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Posted - 02/23/2010 : 08:11:58 AM
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quote:
[i]Originally posted by wifostarz[/i]
[br]Their newly released report "Restoring Prosperity" recommends the state to look at consolidating as many as 200 of its smaller public school districts into larger ones. It says the money saved on district administration could be put into improving student instruction across the state.
Before we go too far behind this pied piper, take a look at the administration costs, vs student instruction in the state's larger districts, ones say like like say Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, etc. All are much worse than Monroe. Yes a district can be too small, if it can't offer a full and rich range of classes, but above that point, a small district can be run efficiently. It just requires strong and lean management.
And frankly, getting the Ohio Department of Education off the backs of schools, requiring report after report after report, most with no real purpose whatsoever, certainly does not help anything or any one.
The one thing you can guarantee, is if the smaller districts are assimilated by the larger Borg schools, is that their residents will have about as much influence in the new combined district's operatins as Monroe did before the split with Middletown, which is to say just about none. And for those who think it will save money, check out Middletown's tax rates vs ours. There is virtually no difference. |
Tom Birdwell
Opinions written here are mine alone, and may not reflect the views of other board members.
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lrisner
Junior Member
USA
186 Posts Likes0 |
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Posted - 02/24/2010 : 11:35:54 AM
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| Consolidating into Larger and Larger districts over the Years has been the Root of Educational Downfall in my Opinion. |
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Consolidate Ohio's 613 School Districts
