Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Please post a link. Respectfully that sounds way off base to me. I'd like to see where they are accounting for those magical savings. The only to way to affect that much savings is to eliminate salaries or physical facilities (ie building operating costs), neither of which would happen in a LI consolidation. School closures due to declining enrollments, yes. Consolidation, no. Same buildings, same utilities, same salaries = nominal cost savings. 60 and 100 percent?! I'd love to see those numbers.
Originally Posted by Quick Commenter I think when those two tiny districts consolidated back in 2004 there was no tax savings at all but I could be wrong. I also believe that was the most recent one here on Long Island (previous one was 1997 annexation of Laurel by Mattituck-Cutchogue)
Reading this Newsday quote (from November 2014) very carefully reinforces a HUGE reason why it is so rare:
A 2005 study by Syracuse University researchers found that two districts of 300 students each could cut costs 23.7 percent by combining, due to economies of scale. Combining two districts of 1,500 students each could save 3.9 percent, the study showed. Many experts have concluded that consolidations involving districts with enrollments of more than 1,500 each should be attempted only if the reorganization meets some other goal, such as giving students a wider choice of advanced courses.
Originally Posted by chetstash Your study from a decade ago needs to be updated given the tax cap state law.
Originally Posted by chetstash Here's another tidbit I discovered tonight...a 2007 study published in Education Finance and Policy concludes annual operating spending per pupil declines by more than 60 percent when two 300-pupil districts merge and by nearly half when two 1,500-pupil districts merge.
OMG -- Are you suggesting actually reading the budget for these irksome details?
You can glean a lot just by reading the BOE meeting minutes.
One of the last budget meeting minutes I read before moving had about 10 pages dedicated to the cost of transporting students out of district for private school or because they were special needs and their parents wanted them sent to other school districts or private schools. One bus for one kid, saw it when I lived in GC...my neighbors across the street were multi millionaires having sold a company, sent their kids to St. Joe's across town rather St. Anne's (walking distance) and even though neither worked, they got GC to provide a bus for their two kids. It was a regular sized school bus and they were the only two on it.
GC owns its own buses but in other districts you're paying the bus company for that kind of service.
You can glean a lot just by reading the BOE meeting minutes.
One of the last budget meeting minutes I read before moving had about 10 pages dedicated to the cost of transporting students out of district for private school or because they were special needs and their parents wanted them sent to other school districts or private schools. One bus for one kid, saw it when I lived in GC...my neighbors across the street were multi millionaires having sold a company, sent their kids to St. Joe's across town rather St. Anne's (walking distance) and even though neither worked, they got GC to provide a bus for their two kids. It was a regular sized school bus and they were the only two on it.
GC owns its own buses but in other districts you're paying the bus company for that kind of service.
I forgot to add for sarcasm. If more people took the time to read the budget, or the budget - related BOE meeting minutes, we might not have as severe a tax burden.
I forgot to add for sarcasm. If more people took the time to read the budget, or the budget - related BOE meeting minutes, we might not have as severe a tax burden.
I've never looked at it because it passes anyway (1500 vs 500) despite our voting NO and it's not for their salaries/benefits anyway. We get kids' programs cut instead. So what is the % about? 75%? 80%?
Alot of this is wishful thinking, this will never happen here, Long Island is all about Local Control, others parts of the country it may easier to merge schools. I guess our politicians are eventually going to give up on this issue.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
