RE: Question 3: School Districts-What's in the Plan

The recommendations of the Governance Working Groups with respect to the size, powers and duties of school districts follows from the premise that roles and responsibilities should be defined clearly enough that it would be possible for parents, teachers and elected officials to know which level of government is responsible for which activity. 

The proposed Master Plan puts forth a template to make those choices. If it is possible to agree on the distinct roles and responsibilities of the state intermediate and local level it follows that the organization of local school districts must be part of the mix. Our current local school district organizational structure is simply a function of local history and the rationale for the organization of a particular district may be lost in the mist of time. So if the state figures out its role (e.g. setting standards, establishing an effective finance system) and a consensus can be developed over the role for the intermediate level (e.g. oversight and common services) why not begin a community dialogue about the size and configuration of local school districts. In this process it will be important that the state set the basic parameters of school district organization. It can be argued that a school district should be organized to accomplish the standards set by the state. As the issue of unifying elementary and high school districts reappears out of that historical mist, it may be time to recognize that one group of people elected by a community should be responsible for the education of kids in their community from kindergarten throught high school. In both urban a rural areas of the state there are communities that have one elected group for elementary schools and another group responsible for high school. If we are going to expect a higher performance from kids, it is probably time to expect a higher performance from local school districts. One way to start this process is to set a time table for local school district reorganization and begin the process of giving the reorganized districts additional power.