LET’S START WITH THE SCHOOLS
I’m in the process of reviewing the Local Government Reform Commission’s recommendations on streamlining local government. However, the one I think I like the most is the part on consolidating school districts.
In recommendation #11, the Commission recommends consolidation for school districts that have fewer than 2,000 students. Who can argue with this. Schools take, on average, 54-percent of your property taxes. That means they are more than half the problem.
More than half of 293 school districts in Indiana have fewer than 2,000 students and 46 districts have fewer than 1,000 students. The pride of the pack is the Dewey Township School District in LaPorte County with a whopping 156 students. Just for comparison sake, my high school in Chicago had 2,000 students.
The Commission argues there are too many administrators (”educrats” as I like to call them) and districts. It does not say close schools, but schools should be a lot less top-heavy. Indiana exceeds the national average in non-instructional staff when it comes to schools, but nearly 77 percent of last year’s Indiana high school graduates would not be able to get into IU or Purdue if higher standards slated to go into effect in 2011 were in place today.
This is not about closing schools, so no one would have to move. This is about re-allocating resources to be where they need to be; either in the classroom or in the taxpayers pockets where it belongs.
Tomorrow I’ll share with you my one main criticism of the reform plan.
