The Goldwater Institute piece on the supposed benefits of school district consolidation touches on a number of good points, arguing that it is competition that makes districts more efficient, not increased district size and hoped-for economies of scale. It’s a little long, but worth scanning if you are in this debate.
Mainly, the piece questions the claim that bigger district size means lower overhead on the administrative side, with overall cost savings.
The authors cite several bits of related research to refute the lower-cost argument: Jay Greene’s Manhattan Institute Education Freedom Index, and the ALEC Education Report Card study.
Even if smaller districts and schools spend more per pupil, however, they often graduate more students per dollar spent, something that I report from the New York City experience in an earlier CJ piece on small high schools.
