Schools

NYS Regents Board Suggests Studying School Consolidation

Proposal to convene a panel to review the idea of combining schools must be approved by governor, state legislature.

The New York State Board of Regents on Tuesday voted to create a panel to review the potential benefits and pitfalls of school district consolidation, the formation of which must be approved by the state legislature and Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo.

The consolidation panel review is one of 11 suggestions adopted unanimously by the Board of Regents in its State Aid proposal for 2011-2012. School district consolidation is an idea that has been raised several times in the past on Long Island but heavily opposed by residents and educators who believe it would hurt educational programs and drive up costs.

"It is a conceptual proposal and certainly not set in stone," Jane Briggs, a spokesperson for the Board of Regents, told Patch in a phone interview. "The goal is to take a look at school district consolidation and the possibility of saving money given the current fiscal crisis."

Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The consolidation panel suggested by the Board of Regents calls for assessing "current incentives and disincentives" tied to potential school district reorganization, and "supporting models that are consistent with needed educational reforms, cost savings and shared services." But the panel cannot be formed without approval from the state legislature and the governor.

While Bayport-Blue Point School District Superintendent Dr. Anthony Annunziato thinks that there are some benefits to consolidation, he said savings from consolidation are not necessarily significant. "The truth is, it isn't the panacea to financial problems in school districts, but it could be part of overall reform," Annunziato said.

Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The superintendent emphasized that consolidation is something that has to be looked at on an individual basis, as he said one of the problems with consolidation is that in many ways it can cost more money. When you combine two districts, you have to look at the contracts. For example, teacher benefits are adjusted to meet the higher of the two contracts, so it "really has to be looked at on a case by case basis."

In 1993, there was a merger study done for the annexation of Bayport-Blue Point with Sayville school district. It went to a vote, though Annunziato noted he did not know what precipitated it, and the end result was that the districts did not merge, as Sayville voted against it.

Overall, the superintendent thinks consolidation is not likely, "I can't see it happening on Long Island," Annunziato said. "Here's where it can work:  county-wide consolidations, where districts would negotiate contracts on a county-wide basis, such as health insurance."

Other components of the State Aid proposal put forth by the Board of Regents includes no increase in Foundation Aid funding for the next year, making sure that no school district state wide suffers more than a five percent loss in state aid over the prior year, suggests that school districts form three-year financial plans and allow school districts to establish additional reserve funds to cover future costs such as retiree expenses.

The state aid plan also recommends $15 million in funding to continue the Regents testing program. Earlier this month state education officials had indicated that exam costs may be pushed on to local districts given state funding issues.

In addition, the plan recommends moderating aid on school construction, transportation and shared services, such as the BOCES program used by districts on Long Island, and recommends that BOCES Aid for cooperative programs and services support be considered a funding priority.

"The funding proposal approved is what the board feels is fair in terms of striking a balance with the fiscal crisis and about the need of finding new ways of doing business," Briggs said.


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