Agenda - 03-11-1985 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Cost/Sine Factors Besides the consideration of duality education and its relationship to size of schools and school districts, we clearly must think about per ! pupil costs as they relate to size. Two lengthy 'studies that we read had completely opposing views. The Great Plaips,District Jgo„rganizatjQn Project of 1968 favored larger school districts,. while Uggatipg in„Rural ' America, edited by Jonathan Sher and published in 1977, found many large districts to be' operating uneconomically. The Great, Plains Project found a highly significant relationship be- tween size and per pupil cost. Here, researchers recommended a school district minimum size of 1,500 for sparsely populated areas, although 3,500 was considered better as a minimum if more services were to be pro- vided. Relating school size, quality, and cost, The, Grg t p1ginj writers concluded thats "Larger schoolswith a greater number of pupils can and do offer more program breadth than their smaller counterparts. Exceptions to this .statement would be few and would be largely limited to those rare cases where an unusual amount of local wealth supports a small pupil enrollment." Education in Rural America makes a strong case against some consoli- dations, referring especially to transportation cost diseconomies, ineffi- cient and costly distribution of purchases, higher costs in attracting professional staff, and a failure to equalize taxable wealth over large geographical areas. But the 'authors 'of this study do point out that local circumstances are a key factor in determining education policy. Our three small Hudson River villages differ from the rural costuni- .ties described in Sher®s book in the following ways* (1) The Hudson River communities are s - i uburban urban �' .n character. (2) The populations are similar in their socio-eccmannic status . Earnings, social, and educational aspirations are comparable. (3) Geographically, Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, and Irvington are almost one contiguous community and transportation in a con- bined district could hardly be related to rural distances:. (4) Staff contracts are similar, as are tax rates in Dobbs and Heating (5) The possibility of further land development and/or increased tax money from new industry is limited, especially in Dobbs r Ferry and Hastings. (6) Consolidation could nat end up as a typical rural school dis- trict centralization n r an unmanageably large district. ' * xn Westchester County, Pocantice Hills would be an example of a small ::`;:, district supported by large wealth.