A case for school consolidation

Consolidation of South Carolina school districts has been urged by reformers who recognize that district mergers can reduce administrative costs and provide more money for the classroom. But frugality isn't on the agenda of officials who stand to lose in the streamlining process.

Witness the recent dispute that followed legislative approval of a bill to consolidate Districts 2 and 17 in Sumter County. The bill, signed into law by the governor in February, would merge the districts in 2011. Nevertheless, District 17 broke ground on its new administration building in March.

A judge's order was required to halt construction of the administration building in April. District 2 residents sought the stop-work order, reasonably arguing that the pending consolidation might well make the building superfluous.

They also objected to the possibility that taxpayers in the new district could be financially liable for a building they hadn't approved, according to The Associated Press.

Each side will have an opportunity to explain its respective positions in a court hearing scheduled for Thursday.

The districts' merger was made at the recommendation of Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, who says that a consolidated district will have greater assets, instructional as well as financial, to provide for its students.

Sen. Leventis notes that the districts are virtually equal in size and the racial percentages of students are about the same. Both districts also have lost students over the years to private and parochial schools, and to home schooling. Sen. Leventis believes that a merged district will be more competitive in meeting Sumter students' needs.

He adds that administrators and board members in both districts overwhelmingly opposed the merger, scheduled to be completed by July 2011. That's an example of the institutional opposition that has kept consolidation off the table in other districts.

Nevertheless, district mergers are generally worth pursuing, particularly in view of the difficult budget years experienced by most public schools. Rep. Ken Kennedy, D-Greeleyville, sponsored a bill last session to require one district per county in order to cut "facilities and administrative duplication." Gov. Sanford has endorsed the idea, though it failed to advance.

The experience in Sumter demonstrates just how hard consolidation is to accomplish. But the opposition is helping make the case for the merger as it fights to build a $5.3 million building to serve the administrators of a district that won't exist in less than three years.