Guest Column
In 1946, Illinois Gov. Adiai E. Stevenson targeted school consolidation as an issue that his newly elected administration would confront. At that time there were around 11,000 separately ordained school districts in the state ranging from one-room schoolhouses in the rural regions to the district that served the entire city of Chicago. Each had its own board, budget and administrator. This was a case of duplication of effort taken to the extreme. The effort to reduce the number was effective. From over 11,000 districts, the number declined to around 1,000 in the mid-1950s. Today there are 970 school districts. Obviously, there has been little progress to reduce the number since the efforts of some forty years ago. The School Reform Package of 1985 was supposed to address the problem of school consolidation. One of the 169 measures in the package was Senate Bill 730, which required Educational Service Region superintendents to establish reorganization committees. These committees were then directed to look at all unit districts within their jurisdictions that had fewer than 1500 students, all elementary districts with fewer than 1000 and all high school districts with fewer than 500. The consolidation initiative died when advisors to Gov. James R. Thompson worried that the effort would stir up controversy and spell trouble for the governor in what was predicted to be a hotly contested gubernatorial race against Adiai E. Stevenson III. Consolidation was laid to rest and has not resurfaced. An inherent problem with the consolidation effort was that it laid the initiative for consolidation at the doorstep of the Educational Service Region superintendent. As an elected official, the ESR superintendents were not likely to go out of their way to antagonize constituencies content with the status quo. When the governor backed away from enforcement, the ESR superintendents gladly retreated from the fray. The argument to reduce the number of school districts in Illinois is based upon several assumptions: (1) cost savings could accrue from consolidation; (2) administrative effectiveness could be increased; and (3) educational advantages could result. Cost savings would come from a reduction in superintendent salaries and from the potential of economies of scale. There are approximately 950 men and women who serve as school superintendents in Illinois (a few serve as superintendent in more than one district). Many are paid on a full-time basis to run a single building with fewer than 500 students. Each district has a board of education of seven elected persons, which means that there are 6,790 persons (970 x 7) who are overseers of local education in the state. Many of the districts are so small that they have little or no advantage in contracting for operational equipment and supplies. Suppliers provide the largest discounts to the high-volume buyers. Administrative effectiveness would result from an increase in role differentiation. Because a small district superintendent has only a building or two, he or she usually serves as a principal and as the district business manager. These duties are in addition to serving as the chief executive officer responsible to the board of education for the oversight of the curriculum and as the legal administrator for state mandates and local board; policies. This causes a serious fragmentation of effort and responsibility. Consolidation would increase the number of children and the financial base of the district to the point where such role differentiation would be feasible. Educational advantages become especially apparent at the secondary school level where departmentalization is common. Small high schools have great difficulty in meeting the required state curriculum. In attempting to do so, teachers are sometimes assigned to teach courses for which they possess only the absolute minimum legal requirement. Some small high schools cannot offer foreign languages, advanced mathematics or advanced science courses. Even ordinary subjects like algebra, geometry, biology and chemistry are offered on an "every other year basis." This is not a satisfactory solution for the student who moves into the district during the "off year when the subject needed was taught the year before. Looking for logical patterns for school consolidation possibilities is not difficult. Currently, free-standing high school districts are being fed by free-standing feeder elementary districts. Combining these into a single unit district would provide a good beginning. Such an approach tends to step on the fewest number of toes. Children are already being bused, the students already expect to go to this same high school, and the traditions of local schooling could be kept by maintaining the area's elementary school for at least some period of time. The area around Carbondale, for example, is currently being served by five districts: Carbondale High School (District 165); Carbondale Elementary (District 95); Giant City Elementary (District 130); Unity Point Elementary (District 140); and DeSoto Elementary 10/July 1994/Illinois Issues (District 86). A single unit district which preserved the current attendance centers would not change the nature of the high school at all, would not change busing patterns and could preserve elements of localism by guaranteeing board representation from all current districts for some time into the future. This has the educational advantage of providing greater opportunity for teacher discussions aimed at sequentially organizing the curriculum from kindergarten through high school. A second logical place to look is the county. Already, a number of rural counties have formed countywide unit districts to replace a former patchwork pattern of small local districts. Current names like Hardin County Schools; Gallatin County Schools and Stark Country Schools exemplify the point. Dividing more populous counties into geographic regions presents another possibility. Hybrid names like Wesclin (West Clinton County) illustrate this idea. The advantage of county organization, either total or partial, provides a district with the advantage of similarity of property assessment and tax collection/distribution and continuity of service by such intermediate educational units as the Educational Service Region or cooperative special education district. There is some consolidation going on, largely undertaken for financial reasons. Three years ago, Mason County was served by four unit districts. Each of these districts operated high schools which, if combined, would have had fewer than 1,000 students in grades 9-12. Since that time, Balyki Community Unit has combined with Havana and the Forman District has combined with Green Valley to form the Midwest Central District. This is progress. Regrettably, much remains to be done. Some counties in Illinois don't have enough population to support a county- wide organization. Scott County has fewer than 350 high school students in the entire county. A regional approach needs to be explored in this case. History can provide some valuable clues. When the consolidation legislation of 1985 was passed, discussions were undertaken by small districts everywhere on the belief that consolidation was a "done deal." The possibility of continuing those discussions is promising for the future of consolidation. It can also be argued that now is a good time to push for consolidation. The passage last year of an early retirement inceptive for public school personnel will result in the retirement of a number of superintendents and principals. This could pave the way for consolidation discussions that have been hampered by questions about what do we do with Superintendent White or Principal Black? The financial squeeze might also be an incentive. The Illinois State Board of Education maintains a "Watch List" of districts that are in financial trouble. If these public districts were private businesses, they would have declared Chapter 11 bankruptcies years ago. Just as Chapter 11 provides the opportunity for reorganization, schools on the watch list should see the situation as a similar opportunity. What is standing in the way of school consolidation? Some would argue that the strongest opposition comes from a fear of losing another community institution. True enough, some schools have remained long after the business district died or the post office was relocated. Some schools serve as the last vestige of former communities. Because the resistance to change is more of an emotional reaction than a reasoned argument, it is difficult to counter with facts. But time is on the side of consolidation if one takes the view that we are in the process of redefining the concept of community itself. Regional shopping centers, regional systems of health care delivery, increased personal mobility and the subtle influence of mass media are causing us to view community in bigger and broader ways. This will eventually include schools. The financial incentives to consolidate are present in terms of reduced administrative salaries and economies of scale, but need to be enhanced with state incentives. In some instances, school districts have explored consolidation only to discover that peculiarities in the state financial aid formula would result in less state aid with consolidation. Educationally, there are good reasons to consolidate. When the advantage of individuality and familiarity are overtaken by the considerable disadvantages of learning opportunities, it is time to consolidate. When a small high school can only meet the state mandated curriculum by stretching itself so thin as to become transparent, it is time to take action.
There is no need to have high schools or elementary schools with a required minimum enrollment. There is no need for busing children over an hour each way to school. There is no need to bash small communities in favor of some brave new bureaucratic structure. There is a need to realize that small can be a financial, administrative and educational liability. The required effort to consolidate Illinois schools is not likely to come from the individual members of the General Assembly. It is a perilous proposition. To involve oneself is to invite antagonism. There will be few plaudits for those who lead the fight for consolidation, and there is great potential for political risk for those who do. What will be required is a commitment on the part of a governor and the state superintendent of schools. These two officials, in tandem, will provide the only basis of hope. Anything less won't work. William Edward Eaton is a professor and chair of the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. July 1994/Illinois Issues/11
|
|||||||||||||||
