Bill to consolidate small school districts faces strong opposition

TOPEKA – A bill that would cut in half the number of Kansas school districts faced strong opposition from rural districts at an emotional hearing Wednesday.

House Bill 2504 would reduce the number of school districts from 286 to 132.

It would require counties with fewer than 10,000 students to have a single school district. In more populous counties, districts with fewer than 1,500 students would merge. It would also require the Kansas Department of Administration to sell surplus school property after the mergers and deposit the proceeds in the state’s general fund.

Merging the school districts would save the state an estimated $173 million over 10 years. But opponents warned the bill could lead to school closings and questioned whether it was in the best interests of students.

Dozens of school board members from small school districts came to Topeka to oppose the bill.

Tom Benoit, a school board member from Palco, said the bill would force more than half the school districts in the state to consolidate without a say from parents. Consolidation “should be the decision of the local patrons of those districts and not based on a hasty and ill-conceived plan from Topeka,” he said.

The bill would leave decisions about how to consolidate districts to the state Board of Education.

Rep. Ron Highland, R-Wamego, the House Education chairman, said he did not plan to move forward with the legislation any time soon.

“Because of the volume of information and the outpouring of emotions on both sides, we need to take a long, hard look at it,” Highland said. “And as suggestions have been made we need to look at other ways (to save money).”

Brian Koon, legislative director for Kansas Families for Education, called the bill’s savings small change when weighed against the state’s budget and against the potential impact to rural districts. He offered lawmakers a hat full of coins and small bills if they were so desperate for money.

Rep. John Bradford, R-Lansing, the bill’s sponsor, rejected the criticism lobbed at the bill. He said it would lead to administrative savings but that it “does not close schools, does not fire any teachers … and does not affect any students and does not kill any mascots.”

Rep. Ed Trimmer, D-Winfield, pressed Bradford on this point and asked if it’s possible that a consolidated school board would vote to close schools.

“I suppose it could happen,” Bradford responded.

Walt Chappell, a former state Board of Education member from Wichita who spoke in favor of the bill, noted that 220 of the state’s 286 districts have fewer than 1,500 students. Wichita, on the other hand, serves about 50,000.

Chappell said consolidating the smaller school districts would increase efficiency.

Rep. John Barker, R-Abilene, scrutinized a special exemption in the bill for the Fort Leavenworth School District. Barker pressed Bradford, a Leavenworth County Republican, on why similar exemptions wouldn’t be made for the districts surrounding Fort Riley or McConnell Air Force Base.

Bradford said that this was because the Fort Leavenworth School District was the only district operated on a military base and that the state would face hurdles from the federal government if it tried to consolidate the district.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Bill to consolidate small school districts faces strong opposition."