..
School districts in the Commonwealth are governed by the Pennsylvania Public School Code
of 1949 as amended and other legislation, by regulations of the State Board of Education, and by standards of the State Department
of Education. These laws, regulations, and standards impart a considerable amount of discretionary power to locally elected
school boards and district superintendents. School districts in Pennsylvania represent a mixture of Commonwealth authority
and local status as a school district, as well as status as a “government” entity with taxing powers similar to
local municipalities in the Commonwealth. Indeed, school districts collect approximately 60 to 70 percent of all local real
estate taxes levied in the Commonwealth.
Process for School District Merger or Consolidation
Unlike municipalities, there is no special legislative act similar to the 1994 municipal boundary change legislation
that applies to school districts. Several sections of the Public Schoo Code establish basic procedures for a merger of school
districts and the involvement of the State’s Board of Education. These procedures can be summarized as follows:
A majority vote (5 of 9 members) of all boards involved is required;
An application must be filed with the Secretary of Education;
The State Board of Education must approve the application. Approval is to
be granted by the State Board of Education as it deems appropriate and in the best interests of
MERGER/CONSOLIDATION REVIEW CASE STUDIES 2009 APRIL 2009
Pennsylvania Economy League, Central Division 1-6 the education system
of the Commonwealth. If the State Board of Education does not approve, the application must be referred to the applying districts
for resubmission in accordance with the recommendations of the State Board of Education;
The Secretary of Education issues a certificate creating the new school
district. The certificate lists the district name, components, classification, and the effective date of operation.
Other sections of the Public School Code that affect mergers of school districts includes sections for the treatment
of existing indebtedness of the merged school districts, provisions for the amicable adjustment and apportionment of debt
and property, and provisions for the election of school directors in the merged district.
As part of the process of voting to approve a merger, the boards of the merging complement school districts
must agree on at least six items:
The name of the school district;
The name of the superintendent, salary, and length of contract;
The administrative structure of the district;
The buildings to be operated by the district;
Which area vocational technical school the new Districts’ pupils will
attend; and
The timeframe for the merger.
As of the writing of this report, there have been two recent attempts at merging school districts; Center and
Monaca in Beaver County and Halifax and Millersburg in Dauphin County.
The merger of Center and Monaca was recently approved by both school boards and the State Board of Education;
the boards of Halifax and Millersburg decided not to pursue additional steps to complete the merger but did decide to partner
in educational and other relevant activities as much as practical.
http://teampa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Final-Report-TeamPA-Merger-Consoldation.pdf
