Illinois School District Mergers Could Cost $4 Billion
Merging the state’s 800-plus school districts into a more manageable number could cost nearly $4 billion, according to a recent report that may kill any chance that a commission looking for ways to improve Illinois education will recommend a major consolidation.
Members of the Classrooms First Commission said they see little support for a sweeping consolidation of school districts, which Gov. Pat Quinn proposed last February as a way to save about $100 million. His idea to merge the state’s 868 districts into just 300 was based on the potential savings that would come from reducing the number of school administrators.
But it didn’t account for the financial incentives that state law promises to merging districts — primarily additional money for salaries.
“An across-the-board, one-size-fits-all, we’re-going-to-force-you-to-consolidate proposal is not going to happen,” said one commission member, Sen. Linda Holmes, D- Aurora.
The commission’s leader, Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, said the estimated cost “reinforces the idea that there’s not a quick-and-easy money-saving solution” for the entire state. “If we did everything all at once, the cost would undoubtedly be prohibitive.”
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Illinois merger
Being a retired school superintendent and having written two books, School Corruption: Betrayal of Children and the Public Trust, and School Pushouts: A Plague of Hopelessness Perpetrated by Zombie Schools, I know something about public schools.
It is inconceivable to me that it will cost $4 billion to consolidate over 800 districts into 300. The reason is extra salaries as an incentive to consolidate. First, by Constitution, the state has the authority over public schools and can consolidate districts through other means other than provide salary incentives (the unions at work). More importantly, what was not mentioned was that by consolidating districts you should also be able to maximize class sizes (in smaller districts, class sizes tend not to be maximized. This would eliminate teacher and related staff (again the unions at work and they know this). There would also be savings from eliminating over 400 central offices and staff (better productivity with larger districts). Maine consolidated its school districts and there was no announced cost for consolidation and the savings were in the millions. Perhaps that is modern union math at work rather than just plain old aritmetic.
Dr. Armand A. Fusco