October 1, 2015 at 5:47 p.m.
Is the savings worth the cost?
Editorial
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of commentaries regarding the possibility of closing one or more schools in Jay County because of financial difficulties.
For decades, local leaders have paid lip service to the idea that this is a countywide community.
Now that notion is coming to a test.
A couple of generations ago, when the county’s schools consolidated, the driving force was the quality and the depth of the curriculum. Some schools were severely limited in their course offerings, and some students saw their futures short-changed as a result. The prevailing mantra was doing “what’s best for the kids.”
Today there’s a new push for consolidation, and it’s driven not by curriculum or “what’s best for the kids” but by dollars and cents.
Funding for the daily operation of schools comes almost entirely from the state, and that funding has been directly tied to student enrollment. With a local population that is aging but isn’t growing, fewer and fewer students are entering Jay County classrooms.
That has led the administration and Jay School Board to search for options that would improve the system’s efficiency on a cost-per-student basis, and virtually all the options looked at would involve closing schools.
But the closing of a school isn’t something that happens in a vacuum. There’s a direct — and often immediate — impact on the school’s surrounding community.
While the 1970s consolidation into Jay County High School made sense both financially and educationally, only a fool would argue that it didn’t come at a cost. Towns like Dunkirk and Redkey, and Bryant and Pennville that lost their high schools were undeniably changed. Consolidation achieved “what’s best for the kids,” but there was a price to pay.
There would be a similar price to pay under any of the school closing formulas outlined last week, but the trade-off wouldn’t be a matter of education. It would simply be a matter of money.
And — as a countywide community — that’s a trade-off that deserves careful scrutiny — J.R.
Next: Asking ourselves some tough questions.
For decades, local leaders have paid lip service to the idea that this is a countywide community.
Now that notion is coming to a test.
A couple of generations ago, when the county’s schools consolidated, the driving force was the quality and the depth of the curriculum. Some schools were severely limited in their course offerings, and some students saw their futures short-changed as a result. The prevailing mantra was doing “what’s best for the kids.”
Today there’s a new push for consolidation, and it’s driven not by curriculum or “what’s best for the kids” but by dollars and cents.
Funding for the daily operation of schools comes almost entirely from the state, and that funding has been directly tied to student enrollment. With a local population that is aging but isn’t growing, fewer and fewer students are entering Jay County classrooms.
That has led the administration and Jay School Board to search for options that would improve the system’s efficiency on a cost-per-student basis, and virtually all the options looked at would involve closing schools.
But the closing of a school isn’t something that happens in a vacuum. There’s a direct — and often immediate — impact on the school’s surrounding community.
While the 1970s consolidation into Jay County High School made sense both financially and educationally, only a fool would argue that it didn’t come at a cost. Towns like Dunkirk and Redkey, and Bryant and Pennville that lost their high schools were undeniably changed. Consolidation achieved “what’s best for the kids,” but there was a price to pay.
There would be a similar price to pay under any of the school closing formulas outlined last week, but the trade-off wouldn’t be a matter of education. It would simply be a matter of money.
And — as a countywide community — that’s a trade-off that deserves careful scrutiny — J.R.
Next: Asking ourselves some tough questions.
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