The Canajoharie and Fort Plain school districts are claiming that declining enrollment will lead to financial problems for the two districts unless schools merge. Recent research and loads of local experience show that those fears are simply not true.

In a previous post – Is Declining Enrollment a Valid Reason to Merge Schools? – we demonstrate the absurdity behind the claim that declining enrollment will become a problem for our communities unless we merge schools. Several of our neighboring school districts have significantly lower enrollment; and yet they provide quality, affordable education for their communities, and they are not pursuing a merger. To view a smaller enrollment as a problem is nonsense.

Nor is declining enrollment a valid cause for financial concern. Recent research, as covered in Chalkbeat in February 2026, reviews how declining enrollment is an issue for public schools nearly everywhere throughout the country. And yet, according to the Chalkbeat article: “What about the recent decline in student enrollment, which will likely continue for years? Won’t that finally mean that schools will have to make cutbacks? Not necessarily. Lower enrollment could actually mean more money for schools on a per-student basis if the same amount of money is spread across a smaller number of students. This is possible because enrollment drops do not necessarily affect the tax revenue that goes toward funding schools.” (1)

The conclusions in the Chalkbeat article are drawn, in part, from a national research study published in 2025. This research used data from more than 11,000 school districts from around the country for the 10 years ending in 2018. The research conclusion: “This study has illuminated an important dynamic in public education finance: generally speaking, school districts experiencing enrollment declines witness substantially larger increases
in per pupil expenditures and per pupil resources compared to growing districts. This fiscal and resource advantage for declining districts was due to local and federal school finance systems not requiring declining districts to suffer revenue declines proportional to enrollment declines. That is, declining districts saw revenue declines that were smaller, in absolute value, than their
declines in enrollment.” (2)

Small schools with lower enrollment are not a problem. They are a gift to future students and to our communities. Enrollment decline does not in any way indicate that our schools will experience financial difficulties if they do not merge. Declining enrollment is not a reason to merge schools.