how states maroon districts in financial distress
This report tells the story of how struggling school districts around the country have been left stranded—financially insecure, with nowhere to turn in a system that leaves them at the mercy of their neighbors. These
how states maroon districts in financial distress
This report tells the story of how struggling school districts around the country have been left stranded—financially insecure, with nowhere to turn in a system that leaves them at the mercy of their neighbors. These districts include Midland, Pennsylvania, which had to send its students across state lines to an Ohio school after failing to join with another Pennsylvania district, and Poughkeepsie, New York, whose wealthier neighbor, Spackenkill, defied state recommendations to merge into one, unified district. Other examples span the nation, from Whitmore Lake, Michigan to Wallace, Idaho to Cottonwood, Arizona. In all of these—and in many other instances—districts facing economic distress have sought what most would see as a last resort: to give up on the districts as they are and join their neighbors to form larger, better-resourced school systems. But in nearly all cases, states set these efforts up for failure. Across the country, thirty-nine states allow mergers to proceed only when local districts wish to consolidate, and the incentives in the system dictate that distressed districts will almost always be turned away. And at that point, those districts are left with nowhere else to turn.
Financially troubled districts pursue these mergers because the way American states fund public schools relies heavily on local tax receipts, and district borders define both school systems and property tax jurisdictions. As a result, those borders do a great deal to determine who has access to a well-funded education. In this way, local funding encourages a system of districts that are small and unequal: Wealthy districts are motivated to stay small, keeping revenues in and needy students out. Meanwhile, districts experiencing economic problems, like population declines or loss of local industry, will see their 