Challenge West Virginia

Pete Thaw and fellow Kanawha County Board of Education members are to be congratulated and applauded for their in-depth thought, research and actions concerning consolidating schools versus maintaining smaller schools in Kanawha County. Hopefully, their actions against this very controversial consolidation issue will resonate throughout West Virginia and result in a better school system for the entire state.

The consolidation of schools in West Virginia that was intensified in the 1980s and 1990s has not proven beneficial to our students or to the overall operations of our schools. Purportedly, consolidation of schools would offer, first and foremost, more educational opportunities for our students while reducing expenses. However, during this decade of consolidation efforts, academic achievements did not elevate; graduation rates did not increase; and expenses did not decrease. In fact, the reverse is true.

Despite the closing of 202 schools during the ’80s and 90s consolidation period, West Virginia had to face the following educational statistics in 2000:

• The state ranked 39th among the states in academic achievement.
• The state’s graduation rate was 82.6 percent while the national average was 87 percent.
• The state experienced an 11 percent decrease in student enrollment; a 16 percent increase in education expense; an 8 percent increase for general administration expense; an 11 percent increase in operations and maintenance expense; a 1.4 percent increase in school administration expense; a 19 percent increase for instruction expense; and a 11 percent increase in transportation expense.
• The state experienced a 25 percent increase per student maintenance and operations.
• The state spent 10.3 percent of its education budget on building operations and maintenance while the national average was 8.5 percent.

• Most disturbing, the state had the highest percentage of teens in the country - 13 percent - who were not attending school and not working.

 
These statistics correlate with statements of John Sylvia, director of the Performance Evaluation and Research Division, Auditor’s Office, and Delegate Tom Azinger, Wood County.

Sylvia reported to the Legislature that large high schools and larger school districts have higher dropout rates and that the present graduation rate has declined to a mid-70 percentile. Delegate Azinger discussed whether students from smaller schools and smaller counties have a greater sense of belonging.

He suggested that students from smaller schools are more apt to have the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities.

The Fayette County Board of Education did not get this message in 2001 nor in 2009, the years that the consolidation vote was placed before our citizens. During these two time periods, the Fayette school system spent a considerable amount of money in pursuit of getting the consolidation bond levies passed.

The money that was expended in these special levy endeavors could have been invested more wisely by purchasing textbooks and financing much-needed renovations to our facilities.

Nevertheless, the educated vote of our Fayette County citizens has presented the opportunity for our administrators to move our school system in the right direction.

In 2001, the citizens voted 88 percent against consolidation; in 2009, they voted 78 percent against consolidation again.

For our children, West Virginia needs to follow the advice and example of the Kanawha County Board of Education: Apply the brakes to the consolidation of our schools in West Virginia!

The taxpayers’ education dollars need to be returned to the small schools in the communities where quality education began and where, as documented research substantiates, quality education should continue.

Edwards, of Fayetteville, served 14 years as superintendent of Fayette County Schools.

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