Mergers: Districts ponder joining forces - Phoenix Business Journal:

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A third set of talks was triggeredby Gov. David Paterson’ proposed state budget last December. “Iyt would have raised our taxes22 percent,” says Michael McArdle, superintendeng of the Scio Central School District. “It drove us to look at our budget and the issuesa wewere facing.” The budgetary news from Albany subsequentlty took a turn for the but officials from Scio and nearby Wellsville continue to explore their options -- perhapw a merger, more likely a collaboratioh on a smaller scale.
“Everything is open,” says “We’re trying to find the best wayto go, the way to get the best educationalp opportunities for our studentsx and to keep our tax rate manageable.” The Wyoming Central Schoolp District faced a similar problem in 1991. Enrollmenyt was declining, especially at the high schoo level. Elective courses were sparselt attended. Only three students signed up for physicxone year. Voters rejected mergera with Pavilionor “That left the district struggling to come up with a says the current superintendent, Sandra Duckworth. “So we startedd to look at tuitioning.
” Wyoming studentxs now attend their local schoolk througheighth grade, then shift to high schoopl in any of four adjacent Alexander, Attica, Pavilion or Wyoming pays tuition for each a standard rate that is negotiated with its neighborsx every five years. Wyoming also belongs to a consortiumj of six districts seeking ways to cut costs by sharing servicesz suchas transportation, building maintenance, speciao education and curriculum development. Similar arrangements can be found elsewhere in WesternNew York, sometime s involving several districts, sometimes a one-on-one setup such as Scio and Wellsvillew are discussing.
These measures offer the prospect of reducing expensees while retaininglocal control. It’s a combinatio n that appeals to superintendents who are well aware that the mere suggestionm of a merger can triggerintense “What the people of Sherman are tellinv us is that they like the education theid children are receiving,” says Schmidt. “They’re ‘Please keep it the way it