This post originally appeared at https://www.bootsandsabers.com/2023/11/15/school-districts-look-at-consolidation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=school-districts-look-at-consolidation

Here’s a story about how shrinking enrollments have some school districts looking at consolidating (yes, they should). This little missive caught my attention:

When it comes to funding, Rossmiller says the state legislature has imposed revenue limits on school districts for close to 30 years.

“[…] which limits the amount of money that they can receive through a combination of local property taxes and money from the state. Limiting their revenue, obviously, limits how much they can spend. And so school districts continually have to make choices,” said Rossmiller.

The actual data shows that school spending has continued to increase far in excess of inflation even while enrollments dropped. The “choices” that most districts made were to beef up administration and salaries. Heaven forbid that there are “limits on how much they can spend” like the taxpayers that pay for them.