Kentucky Schools Battle the Urge to Merge -- Rural Policy Matters, Volume 5, Number 10 (October 2003)

As Kentucky's school-age population shrinks along with state revenues, the state says it is looking for ways to pinch pennies by merging schools, despite research indicating smaller schools produce better educational outcomes. So it is offering large one-time appropriations to school districts, such as a recent $13 million appropriation for Harlan County schools. Proponents of school consolidation argue that students in consolidated schools enjoy the benefits of newer schools with more resources, and that the longer bus rides are outweighed by the advantages of large consolidated schools. Since these funds can only be used to build a new consolidated school, rather than to renovate existing schools, some educators and school boards feel obligated to take the money to replace dilapidated buildings.

But opponents point out that such incentives are the main reason eastern Kentucky has many large consolidated schools, and that they are consistently among the lowest performing school districts in the state, while smaller independent school districts are among the highest scoring. The opponents of school consolidation point out that despite the fiscal problems, Kentucky apparently has enough money to bribe districts into consolidation plans that will weaken the economies of the rural communities who lose schools. And they note that the incentive money itself may be just an excuse for some local board members to justify consolidation plans they favor anyway. Some school groups are looking at other means of preserving their small schools, including trying to create independent districts.