School superintendents plan to counter consolidation talk

School superintendents have decided to prepare a report to protest possible legislation that would combine administration among school districts in eastern Washington.

The notion of sharing superintendents or business managers among small districts was suggested by Gov. Chris Gregoire as a cost-saving measure in a speech last February.

While her comment never became a bill presented to the legislature, the state went ahead and ordered an audit review of school costs in relation to district size.

Twenty-seven superintendents, including many from Whitman County, met in Spokane last week to offer up what they consider the efficiencies and strengths of their districts.

Representatives from the state auditing review - the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, (JLARC) - attended the session.

Also present were members of the Educational Service District 101 which serves Eastern Washington and 9th District representative Don Cox, former Colfax superintendent.

Schools being combined with other schools is not what Gregoire meant when she used the term “consolidation,” Cox pointed out.

Cutting down on costs by sharing administrators between small school districts was what she had in mind, Cox said. He also pointed out that no bills were introduced on the issue, only the state audit study.

The superintendents’ publication from the meeting will be sent to the governor’s office to advocate against school consolidation.

“The idea is more to have something to say, ‘We’ve been working really hard on efficiency, long before JLARC came along,” said Mike Dunn, ESD 101 superintendent.

A representative from JLARC said their state-ordered study will be completed by next May. If any state legislation evolves from the study, it will have to be put in the 2011 budget, said audit coordinator Keenan Konopaski.

“In the end, it will be a small amount of savings for a very damaging effect on small town children and the small town state,” said St. John Supt. Rick Winters. Although the governor had been referring to the sharing of administrators between districts, there is still a concern among superintendents, as expressed at the meeting, that the state will attempt to combine schools.

Of the 59 school districts in seven eastern Washington counties, 50 of them are considered small, - less than 2,000 students, Dunn said.

Winters pointed out at the meeting that so many school districts in the area already share staffers. St. John and Endicott have been consolidated for years.

Konopaski pointed out this JLARC study is objective, and the JLARC auditors are not going to take sides on consolidation but just collect information.