The role the state would play in a school merger

Local identity, desire for control make mergers extremely rare

We're a state that likes local control.

That's why Pennsylvania has among the highest numbers of school districts in the nation; why each of those 500 districts is led by a nine-member elected school board; and why sometimes, change is so hard-fought.

"The vast majority of communities throughout Pennsylvania have emotional connections to the schools they went to, sent their kids to, or are sending their grandkids to," said Tim Eller, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

According to Todd Hosterman of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, losing that identity can be a hard sell.

"It kind of goes back to the way our local government was set up in the early 1800s," said Hosterman, a senior research associate. "We had thousands of districts that were consolidated into under a thousand. Each local government had its local control, and each had its process."

Prior to the 1960s, Pennsylvania was home to 2,277 school districts. A state-ordered consolidation reduced that number to 669 by the 1970s, followed by further declines that brought the total to 501 by 1990.

Since then, only two Pennsylvania districts have chosen to merge on their own: the Center and Monaca school districts in western Pennsylvania, which joined to create the Central Valley School District in 2009.

"So, there's no history to consolidating school districts voluntarily in Pennsylvania," Eller said. "It's so rare that there's not a lot of precedent on the state Board of Education denying it."

Under the Pennsylvania Public School Code of 1949, the 21-member state board makes the ultimate decision on whether or not to allow the merger.

Decades after the forced school consolidations of the 1960s, though, questions remain as to whether the state would again force districts to merge.

"As far as requiring it, the General Assembly would have to do that through legislation," Eller explained.

That's not something political analyst G. Terry Madonna can see happening any time soon.

"I don't see any real move, and I have not heard of any," said Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster. "They have too much on their plate, and it's too controversial. And, there would be no consensus. If you want to do something like that, it takes a while to come to a consensus. I don't see them doing anything with forced mergers."

According to Eller, the state encourages districts to merge if they feel it would serve students and taxpayers better.

"But it ultimately comes down to what's in the best interest of the local districts and what the community wants," he said.

In the case of Antietam and Exeter, Eller added, "Both (school) boards have to be willing to do it. Both have to vote on it. And long as both boards approve it, the secretary of education has it placed on the board of education's agenda."

The voluntary formation of the Central Valley School District marked uncharted territory for many involved.

At the time, the Education Department provided around $1 million to help with startup costs at the new district.

Had it happened today, though, Eller said, it would have been a different story.

"There is no money currently available for those types of initial costs," he said. "But what the department would provide and could provide is technical assistance to help with the merging of the two. That would include anything from consolidating academic programs to union contracts, help as far as reorganizing the layout of the district, helping with technical assistance when it comes to finances."

According to Steve Robinson, senior director of communications for the school board association, the rare nature of a voluntary merger forced Central Valley officials to figure out a lot on their own.

"They were doing it without a lot of things in place," he said.

"There was no guidance," Hosterman added.

Moving forward, both Robinson and Hosterman agree it's an area where more research is needed.

"If mergers are going to be more commonplace, one thing that would help would be to have more clear guidelines," Robinson said.

Contact Becca Y. Gregg: 610-371-5032 or

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