Leading off today: In normal times, the recommedation by the Commission on Property Tax Relief that school districts with fewer than 1,000 students be required to merge might be cast aside without any action by the state government. In fact, it's possible no one of importance would have browsed beyond the executive summary.
But with New York being hit harder than most states in the early months of this recession, it's not unreasonable to think that the report will get more than a passing look. Taken to the extreme, that means that 10 to 20 percent of the schools in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association could disappear in the next decade or so, swallowed up by other school districts.
Several newspapers dove into the issue this week following the release of the report by the commission chaired by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. The recommendations would have to be approved by the state Legislature to be implemented, likely a monumental hurdle in itself.
Some 36 of the 53 Syracuse-area districts checked by The Post-Standard have fewer than 1,000 students, and about two dozen districts across Section 5 also meet that criteria. The commission estimates 28 percent of New York districts have fewer than 1,000 students, which translates to a BEDS number of about 230 for NYSPHSAA sports tournament classifications.
By and large, then, most of the districts meeting the criteria are in rural areas and have schools that would fall into Class D in state tournaments.
"There's no question people are looking at it as an option to be considered. The problem is that it's something that's generally not well-received in small communities," Larry Cummings, executive director of the Central New York School Boards Association, told The Post-Standard. "The reality is that you could combine several small districts around here and still have a smaller population than some of the medium-sized districts."
Susan Christopherson, a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell, said consolidations shouldn't necessarily result in closing schools. There are big potential cost reductions associated with merging business and administrative operations, pooling insurance coverage and centralizing bus garages.
An added benefit would be a boost in the number of superintendent candidates since many openings for smaller districts attract fewer than half a dozen applications.
"People are afraid of losing their schools and, especially in small communities, schools are critical to their economic health," Christopherson said. "But it is possible to keep buildings and combine a superintendent or a business manager or negotiate contracts on a larger scale to economize resources."
The Maxwell School at Syracuse University estimated that mergers would save two 900-pupil districts 7 to 9 percent of their combined budget and two 300-pupil districts about 20 percent. Consolidating all districts with fewer than 900 students could save an estimated $159 million to $189 million, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.
Double duty at Moore Catholic: Rich Postiglione couldn’t find a suitable girls basketball coach for Moore Catholic over the summer, so he hired himself.
Postiglione, already the AD and boys basketball coach, took over after his brother gave up his duties as girls coach. He runs the boys practice before the start of school, does his administrative work while classes are in session and coaches the girls in mid-afternoon. Assistants will split the duties in those rare instances when he has a scheduling conflict.
