Dive Brief:
- The Pennsylvania legislature is considering a bill that would offer four districts up to $250,000 in grant funds to further partnerships aimed at cutting costs by sharing services.
- Lancaster Online reports the Columbia Borough and Eastern Lancaster County school districts will be sharing a superintendent next year, a partnership that would give them priority consideration in the proposed grant program.
- Districts who win the grants would have to report the financial and educational impact of their partnerships, and the legislation would also create a pilot grant program to help districts think about consolidating services.
Dive Insight:
The Pennsylvania legislature is brainstorming ways to keep taxes down without cutting funding from schools. One strategy it has explored is district mergers. The state has 500 school districts, and a 2007 study found 88 are small enough to combine with neighboring districts and keep the total student population below 3,000.
At the higher education level, colleges have explored shared services cost-saving measures to take advantage of bulk purchasing power in an era of incredibly tight budgets, especially at public institutions and small liberal arts schools. Schools have found, short of mergers, which are tricky to negotiate, these types of collaborations can be mutually beneficial and save money.