Task force: Consolidating Delaware school districts not recommended, will not save money

Consolidating Delaware's 19 school districts into three would not save the state a significant amount of money and is not recommended, a legislative task force said in its final report Tuesday.

Taxpayers have criticized the number of school districts, arguing it leads to excessive spending on administration and other expenses outside the classroom. Fewer districts could mean fewer high-paid administrative staff like superintendents, financial officers and personnel officers, the argument goes.

But a task force created by the General Assembly to study consolidating Delaware's school districts into as few as one per county, says that hypothesis is false.

“The overall effect of consolidating to just three districts would result in minimal savings at best and would create numerous problems related to facilities management, personnel management, salary, transportation and other logistical issues that would more than negate the benefit of any savings,” the task force reported.

There are no cost estimates or projections given. The task force also notes that there could be "some significant financial benefit to consolidation of two or three contiguous districts," and that the issue should be revisited.

Though the report does not mention specific districts, some likely candidates could be Seaford, Laurel and Delmar, which each have less than 4,000 students and cover a relatively small geographic area in western Sussex County.

Though consolidating large school districts would be expensive because teachers are paid different amounts in different districts and the state would have to "level up" salaries so they are equal, that issue would be less sticky if smaller districts were combined.

Teachers in districts such as Seaford, Laurel and Delmar are likely to have similar salaries, and there are fewer people on the payroll.

Scroll down to read the full report.

Task Force Chair Rep. Earl Jaques, D-Glasgow, said the group was thorough in its review and offered multiple opportunities for public input in all three counties. While the concept of district consolidation is popular, the actual implementation of consolidation created concerns from residents and logistical issues that would complicate simple, widespread consolidation, he said.

“We learned a great deal during this process, and while we found that simply combining our school districts isn’t the best option, we did discover several opportunities to save the state money, improve services and provide a better educational environment for our students and educators alike,” he said.

The task force did recommend that school districts share services where possible and issued more than 30 recommendations in its final report, including:

Move forward with each county reassessing property values. Reassessment could provide the funding to allow current underfunded districts the dollars they need to fill positions vacant due to lack of funds.

Review and revise the 1970s formulas which are currently used to fund student transportation.

Commission a gap analysis of the hardware, software and personnel structures in Delaware public schools.

Negotiate a statewide contract for employee attendance, substitute assignment, and online application systems.

Review potential financial savings associated with the consolidation of county services: specialty equipment, trash services, custodial supplies, maintenance contracts and the relationship between state agencies and education agencies.

Consider sharing services for unique language learners.

Review the education funding formula to make sure schools can hire the staff they need. The last time the formula was revised was 2005, and there have been a number of newly created positions in schools since.

Fred Sears, who chaired the task force's finance sub-committee, said that the panel spent a great deal of time analyzing the pros and cons of consolidating school districts into just three districts, but “the benefits and savings were outweighed by increased expenses, facilities management and transportation issues and other problems that would be created through this process.”

“With that in mind we looked for opportunities to create savings in other areas and to create new funding resources,” he said in a statement.

In addition to the final report, the task force also commissioned the University of Delaware’s Institute for Public Administration to perform an analysis of Delaware public school administrations. The study will review and present the current funding formulas for building and district-level administrative positions and demonstrate how administrative positions are utilized and funded.

The report is expected to be completed later this year.

“We all share the desire to ensure our limited resources are put to the best use for our students," Delaware Secretary of Education Susan Bunting said in a statement. "I appreciated the commitment of our members to explore new ideas and revisit old ones."

EDUCATION DELAWARE

Cab Calloway student named Delaware's 2018 Doodle 4 Google finalist

Education 'Superstars' honored by Delaware State Chamber of Commerce

Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.

Looking for more education news? Visit delawareonline.com/education. Submit story ideas at delonline.us/2i2tugB.