Mark
Rafail, the radio talk show host at WMBS 590, posed a question to a caller who was claiming how great West Virginia consolidated
school districts are.
Rafail said why do consolidation of our school districts (here in Fayette County, PA) if there
are “no savings?”
Exactly. NES has pointed to several studies throughout our blog, but the one we
highlight overall is the infamous, by now surely, Standard and Poor Study on the Cost-Effectiveness of Consolidating Pennsylvania’s
School Districts.
Districts with fewer than 500 students spend an average of $9,674 per pupil on operating
expenditures.13 As districts get larger, their per-pupil spending tends to decrease, until it reaches an average of $8,057
among districts with 2,500 – 2,999 students. However, average per-pupil expenditures tend to go back up again as enrollments
exceed 3,000 students.14, 15
http://lbfc.legis.state.pa.us/reports/2007/289.pdf
Mr. Rafail is urged to take a gander at the study...
http://notenoughsaid.blog.com/2011/07/05/wmbs-590-radio-talk-show-host-mark-rafail-unfamiliar-with-school-district-consolidation-studies-for-wv-standard-and-poor-and-the-red-herring-study/
yes, that one, too. It's available to the public via the PA Open Records Act.
