A Knight in Dragonland

While C.J. Summers and the Pundit are across the river discussing consolidation of Districts 150 and 323, another consolidation issue is brewing over in Tazewell County. There is going to be a non-binding referendum on the consolidation of Pekin School District 108 (the grade school district) with Pekin High School District 303 (a district of one school – Pekin High).

This whole separation of grade school & high school districts is odd to me. I’m not sure about the history of the situation, but it sure seems like a weird way to do things. I understand that additional districts feed into the high school, but still … it seems to make sense to put them together.

Don White, the superintendent of District 108 has gone on record in a letter to the editor in the Pekin Daily Times saying that the combined district could loose funding when compared to the two separate districts (sorry, I can’t find White’s letter to the editor in the Times archives). OK. If true, that’s a legitimate concern.

I hope he’s not lying or using fear tactics (like the jerks in the White House), but I can see why some people are suspicious … obviously the new district would only need one superintendent and one school board, so it’s easy to dismiss concerns expressed as politicians & bureaucrats looking out for their own jobs.

Proponents of the merger seem to be hyping it up and portraying it as a cure-all for the woes of both districts. I’m not sure I buy that. I can see how it could save the taxpayers some money. I see how a combined district could save money on administrative costs and with bulk purchases of supplies.

However … and this is a HUGE however … how does saving a few bucks translate into a massive improvement in ISAT / PSAE / ACT / SAT scores? Even more importantly, how does it translate into a better education for my kids? Test scores are certainly ONE measure of education, but they are not the ENTIRE measure. Some colleges don’t even consider them.

I think the Pekin Districts are struggling with the same issues as District 150, although not to as great an extent … a high proportion of children who come from economically disadvantaged homes. Kids from poor families don’t do as well in school for a lot of reasons. It doesn’t mean they’re dumber. They just don’t have as many resources. Since school district funding is tied to property tax values (what elitist idiot came up with that idea anyway?), poor districts also struggle with less funding for their schools.

A merger might be a good thing, or it might not. I just don’t think it’s going to make THAT big of a difference and we should be concentrating on other areas … like providing more early childhood education.