The Mississippi Legislature has made it a priority to scale down the number of school districts in the state since Republicans took complete power. Ten different consolidations have been approved in the past decade.
It’s something that everyone can agree on in theory that there are too many districts in this small state and that combining them should save administrative costs, freeing up more money for educating students.
Of course, the problem is that no one actually wants to do that in their own community, mainly because of school loyalties that run back decades.
So the Legislature has pushed through consolidation bills in struggling districts and without the consent of that area’s legislative delegation. That’s the low-hanging fruit of the districts that most needed to be consolidated, and from a political perspective they tend to be in Democratic-controlled areas where the Republicans don’t have much to lose by angering the local delegation and voters.
The question now is whether the GOP will push consolidation into more conservative areas where the public school systems are not in crisis.
Somewhere, you know, like Marion County.
While I admire what both the Columbia and Marion County school districts have done academically in recent years, as the grades released this week reflect, from a fiscal perspective it just doesn’t make much sense to have three public high schools in a county with a 25,000 population.
The Rev. Jerron Carney, lead pastor of Woodlawn, Marion County’s largest and most influential church, brought the issue up to the Board of Supervisors during a budget hearing about a proposed tax increase (which supervisors ended up deciding not to do after much public opposition). While the Board of Supervisors said that would need to be a question for the school boards, the fact that a community leader spoke publicly about the issue shows that those with influence in the county realize the merit behind consolidation.
And as education funding continues to be tight, I expect the Legislature to rightly continue to emphasize the issue, regardless of what the local districts and their constituencies think.
While I didn’t graduate from high school in Marion County, so I don’t have personal loyalties to any school here, I understand the deeply embedded nature of school rivalries. Where I grew up in Anderson County, Tenn., there were also three high schools. One, a city district with a lot of money, we considered to be uppity snobs who thought they were better than us; another, a rural district, we considered to be ignorant rednecks (I guess we never stepped back to ask what they thought of us). The idea of combining those schools would not have been a pleasant thought to my classmates. I get that.
But while that county has the same number of public high schools as Marion County, its population is more than triple what it is here — more than 76,000. At some point the reality of costs to the taxpayers is more important than rivalries, which can easily be overcome with a little time and the right leadership.
Like it or not, the idea of consolidation is going to continue to be brought up in Marion County, especially if the population continues to decline. It’s something the community should accept and make the best of rather than fight.
In addition to cost savings, larger high schools have the advantage of offering more specialized and advanced classes. In Marion County, you can also imagine the sports dynasties you might get considering the success the schools here have had at various times in football, basketball and baseball. Combine that talent and you’ve got a consistent, dominant force year in and year out.
If anything could sway the emotions toward consolidation, maybe the thought of hanging multiple championship banners would do the trick.
Charlie Smith is editor and publisher of The Columbian-Progress. Reach him at (601) 736-2611 or csmith@columbianprogress.com.
