Those Pesky Little School Districts
Looking ahead to the legislative session, the Chicago Tribune editorial page bemoans the fact that Illinois has so many small school districts at so much cost.
There are over 800 of them in the state, many of them serving just a single school. They also overlap in many places, with one district serving K-8 schools and another covering the same area for high school.
What the editorial (When local control goes loco) leaves out is just how hard it is, politically and practically, to consolidate districts. Illinois has tried to force consolidations in the past (as has been done in other states). There are also several studies showing that the promised money-saving often fails to appear.
There are over 800 of them in the state, many of them serving just a single school. They also overlap in many places, with one district serving K-8 schools and another covering the same area for high school.
What the editorial (When local control goes loco) leaves out is just how hard it is, politically and practically, to consolidate districts. Illinois has tried to force consolidations in the past (as has been done in other states). There are also several studies showing that the promised money-saving often fails to appear.
posted by Alexander Russo at 1/09/2006 10:15:00 AM
1 Comments:
Sounds like the situation here in rural Southern California. "Imperial" County has 17 school districts, several towns having both an elementary and high school district and 4 which have one small elementary school each.
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