Because the damage done will outweigh any promised improvement.

The Canajoharie and Fort Plain school districts are working hard to convince us that a merger will lower future taxes and bring more opportunities for students. They commissioned an expensive study that makes those claims, but provides no evidence verifying those claims to be true.

The actual evidence shows the opposite. Concerning tax rates, research published by the Connecticut School Finance Project found that “district revenues (school taxes) increased rather than decreased in the 5-year period post-consolidation, when compared to the five-year period pre-consolidation. (100) This research provides caution to policymakers who may rely on economic models that predict school district consolidation will result in economies of scale, when in both Nebraska (101) and Iowa the economic benefit predicted may not have been fully realized.” (1)

Concerning student outcomes, the same report showed  “there is evidence school consolidation can negatively impact student outcomes, as measured by standardized assessments, student attendance, graduation rates, and labor market outcomes.” (2)

The fact is that the supposed advantages of a school merger never get beyond being potential. Whatever dreams we are being sold, actual research into school mergers fails to demonstrate either lower taxes or improved student outcomes. At the same time, from a review published by The Daily Yonder in 2017: “On one point, though, the research is clear: School closures threaten the well-being of rural communities.”(3) Study after study, as well as local data and experience, proves without question that communities are diminished when schools merge.

So why, then, are the schools working so hard to impose a merger on our communities? And why aren’t they sharing these research results with the voters?

Over the next several months, I will be periodically releasing excerpts from these and other studies that question the wisdom of school mergers. The bottom line: the supposed advantages of a school merger are not based on facts; and the fact that a merger will damage Canajoharie and Fort Plain is incontrovertible. Stay tuned to learn more.

(1) Connecticut School Finance Project, A Review of the Research on District and School Consolidation, February, 2019, p. 18. https://files.schoolstatefinance.org/hubfs/Reports/Review%20of%20Research%20on%20District%20and%20School%20Consolidation.pdf

(2) Connecticut School Finance Project, A Review of the Research on District and School Consolidation, February, 2019, p. 19. https://files.schoolstatefinance.org/hubfs/Reports/Review%20of%20Research%20on%20District%20and%20School%20Consolidation.pdf

(3) Mara Casey Tieken, “Close A Rural School, Hurt A Rural Community, The Daily Yonder, 8/14/2017. https://dailyyonder.com/close-rural-school-hurt-rural-community/2017/08/14/