More than 20 percent of those micro-districts can be found in Montana, where nearly half the state’s school districts have fewer than 100 students.At the opposite extreme, 14 states have more than 300 public school districts (See table).While state-level consolidation proposals may serve a public relations purpose in times of crisis, they are unlikely to be a reliable way to obtain substantive fiscal or educational improvement.Legislatures and governors recently have given increased attention to school district consolidation.Iowa’s 361 local school systems may seem excessive, but in the early 1960s, the state operated more than 4,500 local districts.Several laws enacted between 19 resulted in a massive reorganization of districts.
Today, even after widespread consolidations, approximately one-third of Michigan’s school districts have fewer than 1,000 students.
When school districts talk about school consolidation—merging two or more smaller school districts into one larger system—parents usually object to efforts to relinquish their small community schools.
Just ask voters in Valdosta, Ga., who in November 2011, by nearly a 4-to-1 ratio, rejected a ballot initiative that would have merged the Valdosta City and Lowndes County school districts.
“Citizens in some districts would have to significantly increase their taxes in order to reorganize with neighboring districts.” In Iowa, according to the Association of School Boards, the school funding system requires all contiguous districts to independently pass a bond issue at a 60 percent supermajority to build a joint facility.
The taxpayers in each district would pay a different tax rate.