When the most recent iteration of a City-County merger was discussed in 2008 the focus was on a “Louisville type” approach where municipalities other than the City of Pittsburgh would be untouched. The County’s 43 school districts would also not be part of the deal. But the idea of school district consolidation—statewide and in Allegheny County—has been raised numerous times. Even in western Pennsylvania the district of Central Valley arose from a consolidation of two separate districts and two districts in Allegheny County raised the issue of a merger/consolidation over the summer.
Much of the push behind consolidating school districts is to achieve economies of scale, especially by getting savings on the administrative side. That’s why the state’s Independent Fiscal Office recently undertook a study of combining districts in a single county, York, in southeastern PA, to see what would be the results on costs, taxes, state funding, property tax relief, etc. The 62 page report looks at many of the complex issues and runs scenarios of what a countywide school district might look like after taking into consideration the variations of tax rates, how much the state pays for, how much is raised locally, administrative costs, etc.
It should be noted that York County has a third of the total number of districts that Allegheny County has (15 to 43). However, a consolidated York County District would result in a combined student population of 62,000, making it the second largest district behind Philadelphia. The study finds that “the costs of consolidation would likely outweigh the savings from the district level administrative combination—even if one assumes a very aggressive level of savings”.
