SUPERINTENDENT: CONSOLIDATION SHOULDN'T BE ONLY OPTION
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 -- 11:40 AM
A local school superintendent is trying to get legislators to think outside the box.Granton Superintendent Arnie Snook has contacted area state representatives and members of the Education Committee about a concept called ?whole-grade sharing,? which is currently used in other states.
Snook says Wisconsin only offers the ?all or nothing? option of consolidation, where two or more districts merge to become one.
Whole-grade sharing would allow districts to reach year-by-year agreements to share certain grades. For instance, a smaller school could agree to share high school students with a larger school. The larger school would benefit from the influx of state aid money associated with those students, and the smaller district wouldn?t have to operate a high school, which is by far the most expensive part of operating a district.
Snook says the arrangement allows the smaller district to maintain some autonomy, while easing the property tax burden.
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