This morning I see Hamilton voters say no to school merger with Morrisville-Eaton | syracuse.com
Looking at that this morning, I notice something odd that didn't occur to me last night: in Morrisville-Eaton there were about two-thirds of a vote per student, whereas in Hamilton there were about two-thirds of a student per vote. I have no idea what this means, but it's interesting. Meanwhile, as our superintendent says, we will go on sharing services and sports -- and we may be able to include other districts in that.
I want to emphasize again that not all of the "anti-merger" people are necessarily opposed to merger with Morrisville-Eaton, or other districts: as Stanley Roe said in the Mid-York Weekly, this "is the wrong merger." I'd better quote him at greater length, not because I think his is the right proposal but because it might be:
This would have many disadvantages; I would not be delighted to have this four-way merger come to pass. Other merger proposals would also be possible, and I suspect that none of them would be delightful--but they should be considered. It's quite possible that some merger would genuinely save money in the moderately long run, and saving money in the moderately long run is a good thing.
Overall, the way that New York State local public schools spend money is not a local problem, it's a state problem, and it can't be fixed at a local level. But we can think about proposals like this, and at the same time think of other ways to help our community schools, some of which were under discussion before the study of the particular non-money-saving merger (yes, the one we just voted down) began. Meanwhile, the technology underlying our educational system is changing; in the very long run, that's a bigger deal than merger proposals.
Future posts will probably be focused on (a) sharing proposals, (b) merger proposals like Roe's, (c) community-school proposals (PDF) which extend the usage base and therefore the financial base of the school, and (d) techno-stuff ranging from what we're already doing to things that probably won't be working until the very long run, but will dominate then. As I type this on the morning after the vote, I don't know whether my co-bloggers will continue....
The merger proposal went down by an almost 3 to 1 margin with 720 no votes recorded to 249 yes.
Meanwhile, voters in Morrisville-Eaton approved the merger by almost the same margin, 339 yes votes to 163 no votes.
... Hamilton has seen its enrollment drop about 26 percent over the last decade. It now has about 600 students. Over the same time period, Morrisville-Eaton saw its enrollment drop 22 percent to about 750 students.
Even though voters rejected the merger, the districts will still continue to share services and sports teams, she said. Hamilton is also exploring sharing services with other southern Madison County districts such as Stockbridge Valley and Madison, Bowers said.
Looking at that this morning, I notice something odd that didn't occur to me last night: in Morrisville-Eaton there were about two-thirds of a vote per student, whereas in Hamilton there were about two-thirds of a student per vote. I have no idea what this means, but it's interesting. Meanwhile, as our superintendent says, we will go on sharing services and sports -- and we may be able to include other districts in that.
I want to emphasize again that not all of the "anti-merger" people are necessarily opposed to merger with Morrisville-Eaton, or other districts: as Stanley Roe said in the Mid-York Weekly, this "is the wrong merger." I'd better quote him at greater length, not because I think his is the right proposal but because it might be:
The state suggested a rational merger of four districts [including MCS and SVCS]....The numbers and the road map point to Pine Woods as the place for a K-12 school. Merge four districts now and immediately save management costs. Run the schools much as they are now while building a primary and secondary school at Pine Woods. During that period, change the mix of bus sizes to ensure that no student will ride more than 45 minutes. ... ... Transportation is the key.So he'd put the school a few miles north of us, at
This would have many disadvantages; I would not be delighted to have this four-way merger come to pass. Other merger proposals would also be possible, and I suspect that none of them would be delightful--but they should be considered. It's quite possible that some merger would genuinely save money in the moderately long run, and saving money in the moderately long run is a good thing.
Overall, the way that New York State local public schools spend money is not a local problem, it's a state problem, and it can't be fixed at a local level. But we can think about proposals like this, and at the same time think of other ways to help our community schools, some of which were under discussion before the study of the particular non-money-saving merger (yes, the one we just voted down) began. Meanwhile, the technology underlying our educational system is changing; in the very long run, that's a bigger deal than merger proposals.
Future posts will probably be focused on (a) sharing proposals, (b) merger proposals like Roe's, (c) community-school proposals (PDF) which extend the usage base and therefore the financial base of the school, and (d) techno-stuff ranging from what we're already doing to things that probably won't be working until the very long run, but will dominate then. As I type this on the morning after the vote, I don't know whether my co-bloggers will continue....
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