by Nick Mattera nick.mattera@niagara-gazette.com
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
A statewide fiscal crisis and a historic curtailing of education aid is forcing school districts in Niagara County to do more with less. This conundrum is placing superintendents on the hot seat as they attempt to lower capital costs and maintain high-level student programs — all while appeasing taxpayers.
With many school administrators and policymakers looking for a solution, school district consolidation is a much debated option.
The 10 Niagara County school districts cost taxpayers more than $516 million dollars annually, a figure that could be cut exponentially if schools are willing to share business and purchasing offices, transportation costs or curriculum-related services, according to Lewiston-Porter School District Superintendent R. Christopher Roser.
“I think what’s going to happen probably sooner rather than later is we are going to have a centralized school district for a county or for a BOCES region,” Roser said. “Ultimately that is where we are going to head, because then the majority of services will become centralized.”
Been there ... done that
Roser is no stranger to consolidation efforts.
In 2004, he consolidated himself right out of a job after leading a merger between the Canisteo and Greenwood Central school districts in Steuben County. Roser, then the superintendent of the 170-student Greenwood School District, consolidated with the 929-student Canisteo schools. He said while full-on consolidation might not be an option for the small city and larger rural districts in Niagara County, he does foresee smaller districts looking to share services in order to be able to keep pace with city school systems.
“In the smaller school districts, it’s really easy (to share services), because you are trying to find a way to be as competitive as any of the large schools,” Roser said. “You want to have academic programs that don’t cheat the kids. In order to do so, you have to remain open-minded and willing to embrace opportunities to share the services that larger schools have unto themselves.”
Lew-Port, a larger rural district with a student population of 2,350, just approved a budget that cut spending by 2.4 percent, reduced the tax levy and eliminated a $1.8 million state aid shortfall — all while maintaining staff and programming. Roser said despite the successful budgeting, he is openly looking to consolidate services with other local districts.
“At Lewiston-Porter, we are large enough but also small enough that we can share services with another partner,” he said. “It would be efficient for us and efficient for any district willing to partner with us.”
School study
Education consultant William Silky of the Syracuse-based firm Castallo & Silky said many school districts across New York are becoming increasingly interested in shared services agreements.
“Due to the economic climate in New York state, school districts are looking at a variety of ways to stretch tax dollars and remain competitive when it comes to programming,” said Silky, who has been an education consultant for 25 years. “Areas like business offices, administrative and personnel services, negotiation services, as well as specialized staff, can be shared very easily among bordering districts.”
Silky said therapists, psychologists and special education teachers can be utilized easily by more than one neighboring district. Also, hiring, recruiting and record maintenance services are logical choices for sharing.
Silky’s firm is in the process of doing a study on merging Barker Central School District with Lyndonville Central Schools.
Two better than one?
Barker Superintendent Roger J. Klatt said logistically and economically, a merger between his district and Lyndonville Central makes sense.
“We are two relatively small districts and the state has encouraged districts that are in close proximity and have a thousand or less students to consider a merger study,” Klatt said. “We have an ongoing obligation to improve services and programs for the students at Barker, as well as reducing the cost to the taxpayer.”
Barker, which has a student population of 970, currently spends $20,646 per student, which is the highest in Niagara County, according to a study by the Empire Center for New York State Policy. Klatt said in the event of a consolidation, the district will receive a 40 percent state aid increase over the next 14 years that will help stabilize and reduce districtwide costs, as well as property tax rates.
Roser said that when his previous district consolidated, it received additional state aid payments totaling $25.5 million over 14 years.
Klatt said additional aid or not, the reason for consolidation is to improve opportunities for students while making the district more fiscally responsible.
“The litmus test for a successful merger is to reduce costs to taxpayers and create and maintain quality programs for students,” Klatt said. “If we can do that, (the merger) would be well-received by the public.”
Silky said Lyndonville and Barker are looking to completely dissolve their respective districts and form an entirely new one. He said doing it this way can eliminate many of the reservations the public may have when it comes to a merger.
“The main issue is usually the loss of identity, changing of masthead colors, especially if the schools are athletic rivals,” Silky said. “Residents usually worry about which schools their children will attend, how long the bus rides are.”
Klatt said the consolidation is in the early stages, and Castallo & Silky will study the feasibility in every area of the school districts and present the data to the public, who would then vote on the potential merger.
Lyndonville Treasurer and Business Manager Barbara R. Williams said if the measure is voted down by the public, the two districts are likely to still share certain services like business offices and transportation costs.
New York state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, supports school district consolidation and said it could be a long-term solution for many Niagara County schools, including the city districts like Lockport and Niagara Falls.
“I support (consolidation) where it warrants it,” Maziarz said. “It does make a ton of sense, it was the original idea behind BOCES back in the 1970s, and this would be an extension of it.”
Not for me
With 1,355 pupils, the Wilson School District is the county’s second smallest school system. According to Superintendent Michael Wendt, consolidation is not for it.
Wendt said school consolidation does not promote significant long-term cost savings for a district and more importantly, it increases bureaucracy and limits resident involvement.
“People think it will save money and then consolidation becomes a buzzword,” he said. “Districts should only merge if it makes good fiscal sense and if it makes sense for the community.”
Wendt said when schools merge, so do school boards and, therefore, the voice of the public is cut in half.
“People lose their voice, it creates a larger bureaucracy and could potentially divide a community,” he said.
He said Wilson has explored a shared-services agreement with the business and payments offices and said research shows there isn’t much money to be saved. Wendt said Wilson utilizes BOCES for all consolidating services, including some special education, vocational training and instructional services.
“Consolidated services are already in place through BOCES,” Wendt said. “The research shows there is no great financial gain for districts who choose to consolidate.”
Newfane Superintendent Gary J. Pogorzelski said his district utilizes BOCES a great deal for many consolidated services but unlike Wilson, Newfane is very open to potentially sharing services with other schools in the county.
“We are looking — especially in these tough economic times — for any opportunity to share any type of services with surrounding school districts,” Pogorzelski said. “We are going to look at a lot of different possibilities, and I think everybody else will be, also.”
Newfane has a student population of 2,050 and is bordered by the county’s two smallest districts, Barker and Wilson. Pogorzelski said he has not had any direct discussions with neighboring districts but believes it is a forgone conclusion districts will work together.
No sharing in the city
While many districts in Niagara County are not in a position enrollment-wise to partake in a full merger with another district, some have expressed interest in sharing services, while others say they have consolidated from within.
Self-consolidation, or “right sizing,” has been the practice of choice for city school districts in Niagara County. Niagara Falls, Lockport and North Tonawanda all have been forced to close school buildings to deal with sharp declines in school population.
North Tonawanda Superintendent Vincent Vecchiarella said his district works very closely with BOCES for some services and has been exploring the idea of countywide sharing, specifically in terms of business offices.
“We are a city school district with more than 4,000 students. We are not in a position to consolidate or merge with any of our surrounding districts,” Vecchiarella said. “We have right sized from within. We are re-evaluating our space utilization plan and are redistributing our students citywide.”
North Tonawanda borders with the City of Tonawanda, whose school district has a population of slightly more than 1,900 students.
Niagara Falls, which at one point had 19,000 students, has seen massive population withdrawal. But with 7,766 students, it still is the largest district in Niagara County. School District Superintendent Cynthia Bianco said the topic of school district consolidation is a reoccurring one that is not pertinent to a city school district the size of Niagara Falls.
“Certainly for very small school districts with small populations, consolidation very much has some merit to it. But for a small city school district like ourself, I don’t see it as feasible,” she said. “We have certainly merged from within. Every five or six years, we take a look at our demographics and re-evaluate our situation.”
Over the past 10 years, Niagara Falls has not only reorganized schools but closed several school buildings. Niagara Falls High School and LaSalle Senior High School were closed to make way for the opening of the new Niagara Falls High School. Elementary schools at 60th and 66th streets were closed and turned into the community resource and district administration buildings respectively, while Niagara Middle School is now Cataract Elementary School.
Niagara Falls, which has an expenditure plan of $126,033,417, already employs full-time staff in many of the positions some of the rural districts would be looking to share, including an administrator for curriculum and instruction, administrator for informational services, administrator for human resources, a full-time athletic director and both a business administrator and budget officer.
The Lockport School District, which was forced to raise the tax levy by 6.99 percent, closed two schools due to a $4.1 million cut in state aid. Like in Niagara Falls and North Tonawanda, Michelle Bradley, assistant superintendent for learning and assessment, said a majority of the school’s consolidation came internally.
“We haven’t looked directly at sharing services with other districts, but we have looked at what we can do to reduce costs,” Bradley said. “We closed two elementary buildings; most of what we did happened internally. It is a different animal with city schools.”
Bradley said all school districts statewide are increasingly looking more similar in terms of curriculum, and those types of services are generally provided by BOCES.
Silky suggests even in small city school districts where population is dwindling, consolidation should be considered.
“I believe there is little political will to change existing policy because local communities tend to be fiercely protective of their local school systems,” Silky said, referring to a previous article he wrote on the topic. “Although a statutory requirement is unlikely, some school districts should explore the option of consolidation to serve their communities more efficiently.”
Consolidation not the real issue
E.J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, said while he believes school districts should explore a shared services agreement, education spending in general is what is plaguing school districts statewide.
“Our administrative costs (in New York) are 18 percent higher than the national average, and our per-pupil costs are 65 percent higher,” McMahon said. “The main source of high spending is that we have large staffs that are well-compensated.”
McMahon said even if school district consolidation cut administrative costs enough to be on par with the national average, savings in New York state would be $270 million or six-tenths of 1 percent.
“It would just be a drop in the basket,” he said.
McMahon said if state education spending at all levels were cut back and on par with top education states, such as Massachusetts and Maryland, the savings could be in the billions of dollars.
“Consolidation is not a magic wand. Is it the real problem? Probably not. Do we have too many school districts? Probably. Yes.” he said. “I’m not saying consolidation is a bad idea. The question should be, is it the best idea?”
Contact reporter Nick Mattera at 282-2311, ext. 2251.
