LAUREL -- State cuts to education have put the school district in danger of running out of money by next spring, officials said this week as they announced an austerity plan.While I will concede that Laurel is still experiencing the fall-out from it's own financial scandal - its former finance manager, William Hitchens, as he defaults on his court-ordered repayment plan - the crisis at hand in Laurel sits squarely on Jack Markell's shoulders. Hitchens theft of district funds is still small peanuts in education's grand financial picture.
Laurel's schools are in "dire" financial straits thanks to the state's "extreme" cuts, acting Superintendent Dorothy Nave told a group of about 40 community leaders, residents and district employees at a school board meeting Thursday night.
Markell spearheaded a campaign two years ago to push off a rolling 25 % of transportation costs onto districts. While initially rebuked by the legislature, Markell succeeded in sending 10% down to the districts beginning in fiscal year 2011-12. That's 10% comes from a district's local share - school taxes. Some districts are able to assume the costs, but many more are struggling with how to carry this additional burden. It's not like we can move our schools 10% closer to our students' homes... Today, in Laurel, we are seeing how that transfer of ownership is crippling a district.
Does this make a case for consolidation? Maybe. Perhaps Laurel could blend with another district. In a state with as many fiefdom's as Delaware has, it appears to be an easy answer - if the neighboring districts are solvent themselves. But, when Delawareans yell "consolidation," they tend to think of the bigger districts, like my own. They tend to think they want to see county-wide districts. While numerous studies over the years seem to indicate cost savings in a county-wide district model system, no one really knows for sure if that would be the case. If it was certain, it would have happened already. Districts would likely realize much of the same operational efficiencies if they united in a buying collective, but that would require districts to adopt similar/same materials, etc. And, in NCCo some of the district business managers have already moved to a "collective" model for some resources. I can't speak about the Kent or Sussex districts.
As for consolidation - proponants tend to argue the need to pare down administration. They believe the districts are top-heavy. I've never seen a comparative report of school district in Delaware as to how they rank with districts nationwide. But, my own experience on my board leads me to believe that much of the top-heavy admin sits in the Delaware Department of Education. DOE needs to cut out its waste and it has plenty. Then perhaps, districts can follow suit. Though, I still struggle with which positions in Christina could be considered "wasteful," especially as DOE passes down more and more mandates under RTTT and the Partnership Zone program. I am watching my administrative positions grow - positions solely funded by RTTT that will eventually fade away as the RTTT grant dies, unless Delaware reforms its funding system. Which, based upon Markell's historical behavior, does not appear to be in the works.
So, I leave you with this question:
Will Laurel be the first casualty of the Markell Education-Spending Plan? Only time will tell...
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