Are there too many school districts?

[STANG RED]

I think there is. Take just the immediate Sweetwater area for example. If you took Sweetwater, Roscoe, Highland, Blackwell, and Trent, and consolidated them all into one school district, every one of those towns and the state could save an enormous amount of money just in the elimination of duplicate services, facilities, and administration costs.
Look around at the nearest towns in your immediate area and think about it for a minute. Look at all the positive things that could be done within a school district with that many pooled resources. And all those tax basis supporting just one school district, instead of several.
Just seems to make a lot of sense to me. What do yall think?

[BaseballUmp]

Within how many miles of your town are you talking?

[Bullaholic]

Originally posted by STANG RED
I think there is. Take just the immediate Sweetwater area for example. If you took Sweetwater, Roscoe, Highland, Blackwell, and Trent, and consolidated them all into one school district, every one of those towns and the state could save an enormous amount of money just in the elimination of duplicate services, facilities, and administration costs.
Look around at the nearest towns in your immediate area and think about it for a minute. Look at all the positive things that could be done within a school district with that many pooled resources. And all those tax basis supporting just one school district, instead of several.
Just seems to make a lot of sense to me. What do yall think?

Now just because the Mustangs have dropped a couple of games is no reason to try to escape back up to 4A, Red. :D

But, I hear you---I think a lot of districts could be consolidated---but don't let any of those 100K/yr supers hear you suggest this. :D

[LH Panther Mom]

Not in our immediate location! Leander ISD = 6+ miles to the closest JH, around 9 to the HS and further for elementaries, etc. Bertram (10-miles) is already part of Burnet CISD and Georgetown is 14 miles. No other schools are closer, so sorry....where we are it's no way, Jose. ;) Busing would be a nightmare in costs, plus kids would have to get on the bus at 6:00.

[Old Tiger]

I think Milam County could easily create a school districted named Milam County ISD. All towns are within 10-40 miles of each other and very capable driving distances.

Miliam County Cities Include: Rockdale, Cameron, Thorndale, Milano, and Buckholts.

The breakdown is two 3A classification teams, two 1A classification teams, and one 6 man team.

I think after next realignment it will breakdown like this: one 3A team(Rockdale), one 2A team(Cameron Yoe), two 1A teams(Thorndale and Milano), one 6 man team(Buckholts).

[BaseballUmp]

Yea we could take Buckholts and milano and yall could take thorndale and anyone from the gause area and make 2 good 3a sized schools

[cshscougar08]

Yeah I think a lot of it has to do with distance. Like LHPM said, bussing would be crazy expensive and hours would be ridiculous. Plus what about parents' schedules as well?

[navscanmaster]

But at the same time, you can keep the different schools all open, but consolidate administrative functions. An example in the Sweetwater scenario would be that Trent HS, Roscoe HS, SHS, etc. would all remain in operation, since drive times, especially for bus riders, would be ridiculous for little kids and big kids alike. However, there would be one Supt., one or two asst supts, one business mgr, etc. And one school board. Problems I see though:

1.) territorial fights: everybody wants a bigger piece of the pie for their area, possibly could be solved by having board members elected by area rather than just a chair, kind of like a county commish.

2.)athletic director: that one goes without saying. MDIBTY gone wild.

Money wise, it would be a great idea. Navasota and Anderson ISDs could consolidate in that manner, and the result would be much better than if say, Bryan and College Station ISDs consolidated.

[Trashman]

In Brown County, with a population of about 40,000, there are 7 ISD's, one charter school and two private schools.
Way too many schools for this small county.
:rolleyes:

[Ranger Mom]

I don't know how that would work in West Texas.

Would Greenwood have to consolidate with Midland schools??? YUCK!!!

We have Garden City about 20 miles to the south and Grady about 20 miles to the North.

[bigwood33]

I have thought for years that 6 man schools and schools with too few students to field a 6 man team should be forced to consolidate. I used to referee basketball games around the Brownwood area and did a lot of the small schools. I remember a game between Iredell and Star in which every student except 1 from the 2 schools played. For Iredell there were 5 boys and 6 girls (every student in high school) and Star had 18 boys and 5 girls (there was 1 boy in high school who didn't play basketball). There is no way that those schools have the resources to offer an adequate curriculum. Ever since then I have thought that schools like Zephyr and Mullin should be consolidated (just to name 1 example).

I am a product of a consolidated school (Sadler and Southmayd- S&S) and have seen the benefits. In the '60's Sadler and Southmayd schools were facing shrinking revenues and feared having to close and the decision was made to consolidate. Sadler's mascot was the Cardinal and the colors were red and white and Southmayd's was the Kangaroo and they were green and gold. A new mascot was adopted, Rams and 1 color from each school was adopted, red and gold. These were rival schools and I remember as a little boy still seeing Sadler High and Southmayd High letter jackets in the stands and at first the people didn't mingle too much but after just a few years all of that was put behind them. We, the students of the '70's and later, were the beneficiaries of that decision. We had good facilities and a good faculty and staff that we certainly would not have enjoyed had we remained 2 seperate districts.

JMO

[Old Tiger]

Originally posted by BaseballUmp
Yea we could take Buckholts and milano and yall could take thorndale and anyone from the gause area and make 2 good 3a sized schools I think Rockdale and Cameron should consolidate and dominate!

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by Old Tiger
I think Milam County could easily create a school districted named Milam County ISD. All towns are within 10-40 miles of each other and very capable driving distances.

Miliam County Cities Include: Rockdale, Cameron, Thorndale, Milano, and Buckholts.

The breakdown is two 3A classification teams, two 1A classification teams, and one 6 man team.

I think after next realignment it will breakdown like this: one 3A team(Rockdale), one 2A team(Cameron Yoe), two 1A teams(Thorndale and Milano), one 6 man team(Buckholts).
Okay, so you're talking around 5,000 +/- students and busing kids from every corner of the County to a "central" location, roughly where 36 & 77 intersect. 1019 square miles of busing? :doh:

[Old Tiger]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
Okay, so you're talking around 5,000 +/- students and busing kids from every corner of the County to a "central" location, roughly where 36 & 77 intersect. 1019 square miles of busing? :doh: i think you you misunderstood what I was talking about. I was referring to adminsitration and such.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by bigwood33
I have thought for years that 6 man schools and schools with too few students to field a 6 man team should be forced to consolidate.
My parents live in Matador and retired from Motley Co. CISD, a 6-man school. Afton, another 6-man school is 20 miles to the South, in Dickens County. Valley (Turkey & Quitaque) is about 35 miles to the North, in Hall County. And guess what....they're 6-man. To the West is Floydada - 33 miles; to the East is Paducah - 31 miles. It'd be pretty difficult to tell the residents of Motley County they had to consolidate with another of these schools. Heck, you could probably combine Afton & Motley Co and still not be able to field an 11-man team.

[STANG RED]

Originally posted by cshscougar08
Yeah I think a lot of it has to do with distance. Like LHPM said, bussing would be crazy expensive and hours would be ridiculous. Plus what about parents' schedules as well?

I think busing would be a mere drop in the bucket compared to the cost it takes to pay administration, upkeep on facilities, heating and cooling building, grounds keeping, etc... in mulitiple districts and facilities.
I'm only talking about busing maybe 20 miles at most. Whats that? a 20 minute bus ride in most cases. Heck thats nothing.
I know it would take a little sacrifice in some areas, but I think the positives that could be achieved would far outweigh the negatives.
I know of several areas just in west Texas where there are 3 or 4 1A and smaller schools all well within 20 miles of a central location. I think its crazy they dont consolidate and build one district that could surely meet all the students needs much more effectively, and for probably 1/2 the money or less. Some of these places I'm talking about could bus their entire enrollment in 1 bus.
In a day and age when nearly all school districts are consistantly having budget shortfalls, it just seems to me, this is something they should be looking at.

[bigwood33]

It really isn't about the football but the combined ability to offer a diverse and challenging curriculum. Just having to fund 1 high school and 1 middle school, etc has an obvious financial benefit. In the examples that you gave, I would recommend consolidating the schools that are relatively close together (jsut 2 or 3). Obviously you would not want kids to spend 90+ minutes on a school bus so you would have to apply some logic to the plan. You still would still probably have some small schools that would play 6 man but you would really be able to save some money and in most cases you would be able to improve the kids educational options.

[BigGulpsHuh?]

this would put a lot of good teacher's out of jobs, not just administration. also, a lot of kids, who would have the benefit of going to a smaller school and being involved in just about everything, would have to choose a smaller amount of activities to be active in because of the distance they live from the school.


well, i guess those teacher's could become the new bus drivers

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by bigwood33
It really isn't about the football but the combined ability to offer a diverse and challenging curriculum. Just having to fund 1 high school and 1 middle school, etc has an obvious financial benefit. In the examples that you gave, I would recommend consolidating the schools that are relatively close together (jsut 2 or 3). Obviously you would not want kids to spend 90+ minutes on a school bus so you would have to apply some logic to the plan. You still would still probably have some small schools that would play 6 man but you would really be able to save some money and in most cases you would be able to improve the kids educational options.
I totally understand your point and you make a good argument. Heck, Matador has one school building and the gym is in the middle - and that's for the entire County. Besides, it just wouldn't "do" to combine them with Afton - they can't stand each other. :D ;)

[Txbroadcaster]

The bigger the ISD the more problems.

DISD is a problem not just because it is inner city, but because there are ALOT of people on pay roll that honestly know one knows what they do. Oversight gets lost in the pure number of school and students, and all those school are close to each other.

You spread out an ISD then say well each school remains their own, but inside the umbrella of one name, it will cause alot of problems IMO. Oversight will be harder, and enforcment of ISD policy will be harder.

[STANG RED]

Originally posted by Txbroadcaster
The bigger the ISD the more problems.

DISD is a problem not just because it is inner city, but because there are ALOT of people on pay roll that honestly know one knows what they do. Oversight gets lost in the pure number of school and students, and all those school are close to each other.

You spread out an ISD then say well each school remains their own, but inside the umbrella of one name, it will cause alot of problems IMO. Oversight will be harder, and enforcment of ISD policy will be harder.

DISD is probably the worst case scenario you could find. Heck you would have to consolidate nearly the whole of west Texas to equal DISD enrollment. That isnt at all what I'm talking about.
I hardly think consolidating 3 or 4 little schools within a few miles of each other could possibly ever compare to the mess that is DISD. Lets try to compare apples to apples here, not watermelons to grapes.

[Txbroadcaster]

Originally posted by STANG RED
DISD is probably the worst case scenario you could find. Heck you would have to consolidate nearly the whole of west Texas to equal DISD enrollment. That isnt at all what I'm talking about.
I hardly think consolidating 3 or 4 little schools within a few miles of each other could possibly ever compare to the mess that is DISD. Lets try to compare apples to apples here, not watermelons to grapes.

it is apples to apples..as I said IMO the bigger the school ISD gets the more problems. In your original listing of towns your saying have 5 HS inside one ISD. Then the branch grows down to middle school and elementry. I still think again IMO the smaller the isd the better it serves the singular student.

[orange machine]

Originally posted by bigwood33
I have thought for years that 6 man schools and schools with too few students to field a 6 man team should be forced to consolidate. I used to referee basketball games around the Brownwood area and did a lot of the small schools. I remember a game between Iredell and Star in which every student except 1 from the 2 schools played. For Iredell there were 5 boys and 6 girls (every student in high school) and Star had 18 boys and 5 girls (there was 1 boy in high school who didn't play basketball). There is no way that those schools have the resources to offer an adequate curriculum. Ever since then I have thought that schools like Zephyr and Mullin should be consolidated (just to name 1 example).

I am a product of a consolidated school (Sadler and Southmayd- S&S) and have seen the benefits. In the '60's Sadler and Southmayd schools were facing shrinking revenues and feared having to close and the decision was made to consolidate. Sadler's mascot was the Cardinal and the colors were red and white and Southmayd's was the Kangaroo and they were green and gold. A new mascot was adopted, Rams and 1 color from each school was adopted, red and gold. These were rival schools and I remember as a little boy still seeing Sadler High and Southmayd High letter jackets in the stands and at first the people didn't mingle too much but after just a few years all of that was put behind them. We, the students of the '70's and later, were the beneficiaries of that decision. We had good facilities and a good faculty and staff that we certainly would not have enjoyed had we remained 2 seperate districts.

JMO

S&S what a great sports school!

[SHSBulldog00]

For years people in Sweeny and West Columbia talked about consolidating the school's.

In Matagorda County Bay City and Van Vleck citizens have discussed the same.

However, neither of these will happen.

[STANG RED]

Originally posted by Txbroadcaster
it is apples to apples..as I said IMO the bigger the school ISD gets the more problems. In your original listing of towns your saying have 5 HS inside one ISD. Then the branch grows down to middle school and elementry. I still think again IMO the smaller the isd the better it serves the singular student.

But you picked the absolute worst example of ISDs to make your point with. Yes if DISD was the only example we could look at, you would be right on the money. But since we know its the worst possible example you can find, you arent even coming close to comparing apples to apples. I dont know how many schools make up DISD, but I'm guessing we're talking hundreds.
I'm simply talking about a few little towns a few miles apart. Heck, even with the schools the I listed with Sweetwater, I doubt it would even make us a 4A. If so, it would be a small one. How is that even remotely close to comparable with DISD?

[GrTigers6]

Glen Rose already has consolidated all schools in the county. All 180 square miles of it. :D
I guess we could bring in Walnut Springs. Sad thing is we still wouldn't move up to 4A.

[Johnny Utah]

Rancho Grunde still alive in Matador? No way small schools consolidate unless they are forced to. That is not the American way.

[Hupernikomen]

Originally posted by GrTigers6
Glen Rose already has consolidated all schools in the county. All 180 square miles of it. :D
I guess we could bring in Walnut Springs. Sad thing is we still wouldn't move up to 4A.

Glenrose still can't spend all the money that is "generated" over there.

Consolidation will happen as it always has either by necessity or force (TEA).

TXBROADCASTER brought up what most parents know...smaller schools give more individual attention to its students.

Schools that are too small do sacrifice in some areas because of their size but I venture to bet most of its people wouldn't want it any other way if it came right down to it.

Ultimately, it should be the people of those districts choice...at least that is my opinion.

Revenues are down for almost every district right now, consolidation very well might happen in the near future if economics don't improve.

[BILLYFRED0000]

Originally posted by STANG RED
I think there is. Take just the immediate Sweetwater area for example. If you took Sweetwater, Roscoe, Highland, Blackwell, and Trent, and consolidated them all into one school district, every one of those towns and the state could save an enormous amount of money just in the elimination of duplicate services, facilities, and administration costs.
Look around at the nearest towns in your immediate area and think about it for a minute. Look at all the positive things that could be done within a school district with that many pooled resources. And all those tax basis supporting just one school district, instead of several.
Just seems to make a lot of sense to me. What do yall think?

There may be some districts where this makes sense. But not many.

[SWMustang]

I like to think of Highland High School as a good example for reasons to consolidate. They graduate 6-10 kids a year. Roscoe is 8 miles away. How inefficient is that? I'm sure kids would have the chance to compete in everything possible regardless if they were at Highland or Roscoe. If it's not feasible logistics wise, then fine - leave them alone.


And Parents that think Sweetwater is too "big city" for their kids need to get a life and quit shipping their kids to Highland.

[GreenMonster]

Originally posted by STANG RED

In a day and age when nearly all school districts are consistantly having budget shortfalls, it just seems to me, this is something they should be looking at.

Just a quick reminder that there were very few schools with financing problems prior to Slick Rick and the Texas legislature's reoganization of school financing in 2005. I admit that the Robin Hood Plan that Texas had been operating under for school finance was a poor system, but it was at least effective. Much more so than the current system anyways. School financing needs to go through another restructuring in Austin and let's all hope like hell they figure out how to correct their shortcoming from the past 4 or 5 years of schools scrambling to find money and slashing budgets.

[Johnny Utah]

We live in the US, small and large school systems are there, our choice as to where we live, attend school etc....Great thing about our country. Some small schools will close due to financial problems, that is going to happen...BUT, if people choose to raise their kids in a 6man, 1a , 2a or whatever system...so be it.

[STANG RED]

Originally posted by GreenMonster
Just a quick reminder that there were very few schools with financing problems prior to Slick Rick and the Texas legislature's reoganization of school financing in 2005. I admit that the Robin Hood Plan that Texas had been operating under for school finance was a poor system, but it was at least effective. Much more so than the current system anyways. School financing needs to go through another restructuring in Austin and let's all hope like hell they figure out how to correct their shortcoming from the past 4 or 5 years of schools scrambling to find money and slashing budgets.

While everything you said is certainly true, and some major adjustments need to be made. The biggest cost increases for all schools has little to do with any of that. Just the ever increasing cost of fuel and electricity alone has cut very deep into all school budgets. Then you have to add increasing teachers and admin salaries, rising food costs, more and more kids getting on free meal programs, and it goes on and on and on. But of all these things, some of the few things that could actually be controlled and save millions in tax dollars, would be to do away with so many duplicate services, facilities, and personel, that consolidation would take care of. I know it has its pros and cons, but in the long run, it is the only common sense solution I can see to solving some of these problems. And I believe, if done right, the pros will far outweigh the cons. For once I'd just like to see my hard earned tax money spent more wisely that I'm seeing now.

[STANG RED]

Originally posted by Johnny Utah
We live in the US, small and large school systems are there, our choice as to where we live, attend school etc....Great thing about our country. Some small schools will close due to financial problems, that is going to happen...BUT, if people choose to raise their kids in a 6man, 1a , 2a or whatever system...so be it.

So the fact that allowing them to have that prevalage costs all hard working Americans billions in tax dollars doesnt bother you? It sure bothers me! Now if they could do it completely on their own dime, and leave my tax dollars alone, I would have no problem with it at all. But we all know every school district has to recieve much of their money from the state government every year. And thats fine with me as well. But I'd just like to see my tax dollars spent much more wisely than it presently is. IMO this would go along way in doing that. We have to solving some of these ever increasing problems folks. Why wait till its completely broke before fixing it? If we do that, we all know the government will end up shoving someting down our throats that will be much worse.

[IrishTex]

I was honored to be a part of this task force to get school districts back to conventional start dates, thereby saving Texas' school districts millions of dollars in utility bills.

http://www.window.state.tx.us/schoolstart2004/taskforce/report/

http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/schoolstart2004/

We need more cost-cutting ideas in my opinion.

[Johnny Utah]

Stang, your worried about TAXES? Put yourself in the shoes of someone that is on free and reduced breakfast and lunch. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who can not afford school supplies or clothes to go to school or who must ride a bus to and from school every single day at all levels. Public Education is about serving the students and getting the best most qualified curricula and teachers, nothing else. Public Eduation is what it is. Public Education needs more money, and money that is spent wisely(agreed), on the students and teachers.

[STANG RED]

Originally posted by Johnny Utah
Stang, your worried about TAXES? Put yourself in the shoes of someone that is on free and reduced breakfast and lunch. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who can not afford school supplies or clothes to go to school or who must ride a bus to and from school every single day at all levels. Public Education is about serving the students and getting the best most qualified curricula and teachers, nothing else. Public Eduation is what it is. Public Education needs more money, and money that is spent wisely(agreed), on the students and teachers.

I dont disagree with anything you just said. And I road a bus 7 miles each way to school every day till I got my license. Then I had an old worn out 62 Ford pickup for the last couple of years.
Where did you see anyting in any of my posts where I had a problem with kids on free or reduced lunches, or cant afford good shoes or clothes? In fact you make a good point. How about we do something to spend our tax money much more wisely, then maybe take those savings to help those kids out more. Maybe if we do things alot smarter than we are now, we can do exactly that. Thanks for your input JU.

[GreenMonster]

One way to save schools $$ is to simply do away with text books. Most of the classrooms at the school I teach in already have the technology available and on hand to either provide each student with their own computer or at least project the instructors computer screen on the wall. Computers have dropped drastically in price over the last few years whereas text books have risen dramatically in price. Textbooks have to be replaced frequently due to wear and tear and also must be replaced in order to be updated. A simple download would update all of the information for any given class. This would save time and money. Teachers are currently working hard to incorporate more and more technology into their curriculum everyday so why not stop buying books and start providing every classroom with enough computers for every student. This would enable every student to have hands on technological contact and provide the teachers with the ability to reach deeper.

[bigwood33]

Originally posted by orange machine
S&S what a great sports school! It isn't about the sports it is about educating the kids! BTW, When I was a senior, Valley View won our district in football and also won state, we won district inn basketball, baseball, and the district track meet.

[LE Dad]

YES, Now quit tryn to put me outta work!! :D

[orange machine]

Originally posted by bigwood33
It isn't about the sports it is about educating the kids! BTW, When I was a senior, Valley View won our district in football and also won state, we won district inn basketball, baseball, and the district track meet.

Well i played LB for the only team in S&S history to ever make the playoffs in football so nana boo boo lol j/k. S&S where the men are men and the sheep are scared!

[GrTigers6]

Originally posted by GreenMonster
One way to save schools $$ is to simply do away with text books. Most of the classrooms at the school I teach in already have the technology available and on hand to either provide each student with their own computer or at least project the instructors computer screen on the wall. Computers have dropped drastically in price over the last few years whereas text books have risen dramatically in price. Textbooks have to be replaced frequently due to wear and tear and also must be replaced in order to be updated. A simple download would update all of the information for any given class. This would save time and money. Teachers are currently working hard to incorporate more and more technology into their curriculum everyday so why not stop buying books and start providing every classroom with enough computers for every student. This would enable every student to have hands on technological contact and provide the teachers with the ability to reach deeper. Yeah my daughter had two books from Texas Tech she spent 200 dollars each on and didn't even open them all last semester. That is a huge ripoff. I know thats not high school but it works the same at that level just not as expensive

[lange4]

I will go the other way and say I wish Kingsland would get their own High School. There is only 1 High School in Llano County . The problem with this is Kingsland has more kids in each class of thier Elementary than Llano does, but when the schools combine and the sports start, 90% of the kids that play come from Llano. We could be a 2a school and dominate. It would not change our athletic #'s hardly at all.