Nothing. There are no negative consequences. The 32 school districts that considered and rejected a proposed merger in the five years 2010 – 2014 continue to provide sound, affordable education to their students and communities. The dire stories those communities were told by merger supporters did not come true.

The last time merger mania struck New York State was in the years 2010 – 2014. In those five years, thirty-six New York State school districts considered a merger. Thirty-two of those districts rejected the proposed merger and continued as independent, separate districts. The two mergers that did happen in those years were both here in the Mohawk Valley. Mohawk and Ilion (CVA) merged in 2013; and OESJ in 2014. Details of the CVA merger were covered in the recent post: What is the (True) Financial Experience of Schools that Merge? (Two). Some data on the OESJ merger was shared way back in February in this post: Does the Feasibility Study provide accurate projections for the future? More info on the OESJ merger will be in future posts.

For today, we are looking at the experience of the thirty-two districts that rejected a merger. In each of these schools, merger supporters made the same exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims currently being made in Canajoharie and Fort Plain. “Our schools have to merge to remain financially solvent.” “If we don’t merge, our students will have fewer options.” “Taxes will go way up unless we merge.” Did any of those wild predictions come true for these thirty-two schools that rejected mergers?

The data in the table below illustrates the merger truth. None of these school districts experienced financial difficulties as the result of rejecting a merger proposal. Every single district that rejected a merger twelve to sixteen years ago has a fiscal stress score of under 25 (meaning negligible fiscal stress); and many have a perfect stress score of zero. These districts had enrollments ranging from 112 to over 2,000 back when they were considering a merger. Nearly all have seen enrollment declines in the years since; clearly illustrating, again, that enrollment levels and enrollment declines are not logical or reasonable motivations to merge.

A proposal to merge Canajoharie, Fort Plain and St. Johnsville was voted on way back in the 1980s. Merger supporters were adamant that the districts “had to merge” to continue to have successful schools. I remember it well; and I am proud to say I voted no. We had another local outbreak of merger mania in 1993 when there was a proposal to merge Canajoharie and Sharon Springs. Here is the relevant question: What bad thing happened when these past ill-conceived merger proposals were rejected?

Despite the hysterical scare tactics we are being fed, the data is unanimous: rejecting a merger does not bring any of the predicted negative consequences. The promises made about a school merger are just as empty as the warnings about failing to merge.