Shrinking the number of school districts in Pennsylvania is a topic that seems to pop up every few years.
But, for the most part, it’s not something that actually happens. At least not recently.
The last time it occurred was in 2008, when the Center and Monaca districts in Beaver County merged to create the Central Valley School District. Before that, it had been two decades since districts in the state combined.
Other districts have tried to merge, or at least investigated the idea. Most notably in Berks County, the Antietam and Exeter school districts discussed a merger about nine years ago.
That effort failed, in large part over concerns about the financial impact such a move could have on taxpayers.
A Berks lawmaker is attempting to ease those sorts of concerns and make pursuing school district mergers more feasible.
State Sen. Judy Schwank plans to introduce two bills aimed at using state money to ease the financial burden on school districts that are considering mergers. The bills come partly in response to flooding this summer that severely damaged Antietam Middle Senior High School.
“This is something that I have been thinking about for a long time, not just in terms of Antietam,” the Ruscombmanor Township Democrat said. “Certainly, the flood has brought this conversation front and center. Not just for me but for all of the people who live in that community.”
Schwank said the closure of the building due to the flooding, and the nearly $20 million the district will need to repair it, shine a light on the limitations of the tiny district and its financial stability.
Those are things that could possibly be addressed by merging with another nearby district, she said. But as Antietam’s experience with Exeter a few years back showed, pursuing such an option isn’t easy.
“It’s become increasingly more difficult,” Schwank said. “It’s very rare to see school mergers, even though we know that beyond Antietam there are many school districts in the commonwealth that would probably benefit from a merger.”
A failed attempt
Antietam, by far the smallest school district in Berks, has long been at the center of discussions about mergers.
With a soaring property tax rate — easily the highest in the county — and challenges in providing academic and extracurricular opportunities for students, the idea of Antietam joining forces with one of its neighbors pops up every few years.
Most recently, and most seriously, it was investigated in 2014.
Antietam and the Exeter School District at that time studied and considered a merger, but the effort found stiff resistance, particularly from Exeter residents. Those opposed to the idea said at the time that they were worried about the potential financial impact a merger would have on taxpayers, as well as the disruption it would cause for students.
The idea of an Antietam-Exeter merger came to a crashing end in April 2014, when the Exeter School Board voted down a merger proposal. The proposal did not receive a single vote of support from the board, and its death was greeted with an eruption of applause from the crowd of about 200 who had gathered at the board meeting to witness it.
It’s possible, however, that the idea of Antietam merging with another district could be resurrected in the future.
Dr. Heidi Rochlin, Antietam superintendent, said Tuesday that a merger could be something her district explores moving forward. In fact, she said, the district plans to soon start sending out feelers to neighboring districts on the topic.
“We have to keep all options open,” she said.
Rochlin said investigating a possible merger is part of the district’s long-term recovery effort from the devastating July flood, but not its short-term response. Shortly after that event, she was asked during a school board meeting about the possibility of addressing the closure of Antietam Middle High School by merging with Exeter.
At that time, Rochlin said a merger wasn’t on the table.
“At that moment it absolutely was not,” she said Tuesday. “It had not been talked about or considered. And that would be a yearslong process.”
A merger would be a long-term option, Rochlin said, but isn’t something that can address the immediate needs of the district.
“We have to have plans for the short term, a merger wouldn’t happen before school starts next year,” she said.
To that end, she said, the district is considering a handful of options to rebuild the middle-high school, a project she believes can be accomplished for under $20 million.
“Along side of that, we’ll start reaching out to other districts asking if they’re interested at all interested in exploring a merger,” Rochlin said, explaining the flood showed district officials they need to be open to creative solutions to the district’s challenges.
Rochlin added that just because the district is open to investigating potential mergers doesn’t mean one will happen. She said any decision that is made will focus on the needs of students and the community.
“I’m open to whatever the district needs,” she said. “So if that means merging, that’s what it is.”
And if Antietam does once again find itself on the path toward a merger, Rochlin said any assistance the state can provide — whether through Schwank’s bills or other legislation — will be welcomed with open arms.
“We are always grateful for any assistance, financial or otherwise, from the state,” she said.
Easing the burden
Schwank said the failed Antietam-Exeter merger attempt made it apparent that mergers wouldn’t be likely to occur unless incentives were put in place by the state. So that’s what she’s trying to do.
Her first bill would provide state funding to districts to offset increased per-pupil and administrative costs for up to five years following a merger. A state-funded study would be done to determine the estimated cost of a merger.
Her second bill would establish an advisory commission to develop a comprehensive education plan for the districts following a merger.
“This is something the commonwealth should consider because this will ultimately save the state funds as well and streamline some of the educational support that the commonwealth needs to offer,” she said. “If we’re looking at state funding I think this is an idea that should be considered.”
Schwank said she has already received support from some of her colleagues from both sides of the aisle, noting that Senate Education Committee Chairman David G. Argall, a Schuylkill County Republican, is backing the legislation.
While Schwank said she feels the incentives her bill offers would be helpful toward overcoming some community opposition to mergers, she added that she’s under no illusion that her bills would open a floodgate of mergers across the state. There would likely still be some pretty high hurdles like concerns about class sizes, busing, sports and even school pride.
“There are other factors, perhaps, that need a little bit more time to be discussed among people in the community and the students,” she said.
Schwank said she recently met with members of the Antietam High School student council about the possibility of a merger and that their responses were very revealing.
“They have mixed emotions, too,” she said. “They love their small class size, they love the fact that they’ve gone to school with the same small group since kindergarten. But they also realize that there are educational opportunities that they can’t take advantage of.”
Schwank said that figuring out the right fit for a community is a key to the entire merger conversation. And that’s why her bill provides incentives rather than mandates.
She said she wants mergers to remain voluntary, and would be very reluctant to see the state require them.
“That’s part of the beauty of local control,” she said. “The community can make the decision as to what’s the best thing for them to do. And they need access to resources to be able to make that decision. I just don’t think there’s much of a chance that forced mergers would be something that would be put into law.”
Schwank also said her bills would allow communities to tailor mergers to their needs.
She pointed out that consolidation of districts doesn’t have to be a complete takeover. Instead, she said as an example, it could be a situation where two districts continue to operate their own elementary and middle schools but send their students to a merged high school.
“There are multiple ways this could happen if we just think outside the box a little bit,” she said.
