• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

State Urges District Mergers: Combining Could Free More Money for Schools, Officials Say

Posted on: Thursday, 22 December 2005, 12:00 CST

By Diane Rado, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune

Dec. 22--Illinois has one of the most fragmented, massive and inefficient education bureaucracies in the nation, and state officials--under pressure to put more money into schools but unwilling to raise taxes--are renewing efforts to merge school districts, the Tribune has learned.

Consolidations would not be forced. But significant changes in the law would make it easier for voters to approve mergers and allow districts to combine in ways prohibited in the past, according to a memo by state schools Supt. Randy Dunn that was obtained by the Tribune.

Lawmakers would have to approve the proposals, crafted by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's staff and state education officials.

The goal, officials say, is to free up scarce dollars for the classroom or reduce property-tax bills.

The precise savings are unknown because the amount would depend on which districts merged and other factors. But a Tribune analysis found that nearly 900 districts spent $643.3 million on schools boards and administrators in 2003-04. And the smallest districts spent three times more of their budgets on administrative costs than the largest districts.

Saving even half that $643.3 million could boost state aid by more than $200 per child, according to state estimates. That would be the second-largest increase in per-pupil aid in nearly a decade.

Blagojevich has been instrumental in increasing per-pupil aid during his administration, but he remains under pressure from schools and education advocacy groups to increase school funding even more.

Illinois has not made a serious attempt to merge districts since 1985, when consolidation legislation was approved but later gutted as districts fought to keep their students, buildings, jobs and tax bases.

Since then, the number of districts has declined from 1,006 in 1984-85 to 875 in the current school year.

But the remaining patchwork of districts is almost unparalleled elsewhere.

When Illinois is compared with other big population states, only New Jersey has a bigger education bureaucracy, national data show. And while the vast majority of school districts elsewhere are K-12 districts, Illinois maintains separate and more costly high school and elementary districts, in addition to K-12 "unit" districts.

Across Illinois, more than 200 districts have only one school, and several dozen towns have multiple districts.

In Will County's Lockport, for example, four elementary districts served 3,349 students last school year. Skokie in Cook County has five grade-school districts for about 5,300 children. Separate high school districts also are based in Skokie and Lockport.

State and local officials say district mergers have become more palatable, given that most school districts are in financial trouble and voters are rejecting local school tax increases.

Blagojevich has opposed raising state taxes for schools, and lawmakers would be unlikely to approve any increases with the 2006 elections approaching.

"Legislators of both parties and local school officials have told us that they think the time [for more mergers] may be now," said Elliot Regenstein, the governor's director of education reform.

Still, consolidations have always been controversial here and elsewhere, with educators, districts and parents clinging to small districts that often are the lifeblood of towns.

In Lockport, the one-school Taft District 90 has been struggling with deficits, and voters rejected a school tax increase last spring. But a merger with neighboring districts "is not on the table," said Supt. David Rogowski.

In Skokie, opinion is divided.

Parent Leticia Martin wonders why five separate elementary school districts, each with its own superintendent and board, are needed.

"It doesn't make sense to me," said Martin, whose children attend the smallest of Skokie's elementary districts. The one-school East Prairie School District 73 had 453 pupils in 2004-05.

As for the various superintendents, Martin asked, "What does this one [in East Prairie] do, what does the other do? And then down the street you have another one. Come on."

But Mary Anne Brown, PTA president at Skokie's Fairview South School, said parents have told her they wouldn't want to consolidate with neighboring districts.

"Everybody was of the mind that it's just fine, thank you. We're very proud of our district," Brown said. Among the benefits: Easy access to the district superintendent and school staff, which parents consider important.

The school had 617 students in 2004-05 and is the only school in Fairview District 72, the wealthiest of Skokie's districts. Last spring, 86 percent of its students passed state tests, far outpacing state averages.

Not all small districts perform as well. Student backgrounds as well as the type of district come into play. A Tribune analysis of 2005 state test results shows that children in high-poverty districts scored higher on average when enrolled in small elementary and unit districts. But students in more affluent districts scored higher on average when enrolled in large unit districts.

Dunn, the state superintendent, is most concerned about tiny high schools facing pressure to add classes because of new state graduation requirements. A dozen high school districts have fewer than 250 students, most with just one school.

"If we have a high school with less than 200 or 250 students, I'm concerned they can't offer what I'd call a comprehensive program," Dunn said, because it's difficult to attract teachers and add courses if too few students are enrolled to create a class.

Proponents and critics agree that mergers would create more financial equity--districts like Skokie's Fairview would share property wealth with their neighbors--and in some areas, more racial diversity.

The Tribune found that small districts are far more costly to manage than large ones.

The 100 tiniest districts, with fewer than 250 students and often just one school, spent 8.3 percent of their budgets on average on administrative costs in 2003-04, compared with 2.4 percent spent by the 100 largest districts.

Chicago, with more than 420,000 students, spent 1.7 percent of its budget on administrative costs. In contrast, 143 Cook suburban districts together spent 3.9 percent of their budgets on administration, though they have about 40,000 fewer students than Chicago.

Michael Johnson, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Boards, cautioned against comparing district administrative expenses, because he said districts categorize those costs differently.

The Tribune used information from audited district financial statements, as well as legal definitions for administrative costs that are used to determine whether districts exceed state caps on administrative expenses.

The Tribune also included school board expenses, because while board members serve without pay, they have budgets for travel, legal fees, elections and other costs. In 2003-04, boards statewide spent $230.1 million--a conservative figure because the Tribune excluded employee benefits that some districts may have incorrectly included in school board budgets.

Johnson said he believes those board costs would not drop substantially even if more districts merged. Most savings from consolidations result from school closings, he said, not from cutting school boards and administrators. In fact, some merged districts end up adding administrators, Johnson said.

At the same time, he said his organization does not oppose some proposals that would help districts merge. "I think that if people want to make changes, we need to make it easier for them," Johnson said.

Other states have managed to reduce the school bureaucracy.

Florida has one district per county, with one school district on average for every 37,909 students. North Carolina has a district for every 11,418 students, according to the most recent data for the 2002-03 school year.

In contrast, Illinois has a district for every 2,334 students, the lowest of the 14 states with school populations of more than 1 million except New Jersey, with 2,287 students per district.

"That's really in my opinion a tremendous waste of money," said Ben Matthews, director of school support for the North Carolina state education agency. Larger districts are more economical, he said, allowing savings in administrative salaries and other expenses.

Illinois law allows district mergers now, usually involving citizens gathering signatures or school boards putting a consolidation measure on the ballot. But the rules and variations of mergers are complex, and the new consolidation proposals attempt to simplify them and encourage new kinds of mergers.

For example, elementary districts whose borders don't touch could merge, a departure from current law, as long as they are in the same high school district.

And certain mergers could occur even if not all districts agree. Now, voters in each district affected by certain mergers have to approve. If one district votes no, the deal for all districts is off. Proposed changes would allow districts voting yes to consolidate. Those voting no wouldn't have to, but they also couldn't block the merger.

The governor's staff and state education officials hope to get the proposals approved in the spring legislative session, said Regenstein, the governor's director of education reform.

"We believe that this is what is best for the system," he said.

The proposals would not affect Chicago Public Schools, already the state's largest district.

In DuPage County, Terri Brzezinski welcomes any changes to ease the merger process.

For years, she and other citizens fought to dissolve the smallest district in DuPage, called Puffer-Hefty. The nine-year battle went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before the tiny district was annexed into Downers Grove Grade School District 58 in 2004-05.

While some citizens didn't want the dissolution, Brzezinski blames Puffer-Hefty school administrators and the school board for not letting go.

"It was a power issue, I think, more than anything else," she said.

- - -

Skokie vs. Evanston: A case study

In an effort to curb administrative costs, state officials are pushing to merge small districts, which usually cost more to manage than larger ones. In Skokie, multiple elementary districts together spend almost double what nearby Evanston spends for just one elementary district.

Skokie

5,331 pupils

12 schools

Evanston

6,386 pupils

15 schools

Tribune staff reporter Darnell Little contributed to this report

-----

Copyright (c) 2005, Chicago Tribune

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Chicago Tribune

More News in this Category