The School (District) Consolidation Bogeyman

Few phrases in Indiana political discourse will inflame passions more than the hated bogeyman of school consolidation. Even the presence of an important intervening word in the phrase (in this case, district) will not dim the fires among voters.

And, even when it is present, the distinction is not clearly made, particularly in a recent poll by Indiana University. The Star had a (rather misleading) story about the poll, but I had to Google the poll to find the actual results over at the Indiana University website.

Nowhere in the poll is the distinction made between school consolidation and school district consolidation. Nowhere is it noted that the Governor's plan calls for a prohibition on school closings even with the consolidation of school districts. I can't help but think that the poll results would be different if those being asked had been enlightened with such crucial facts.

I hate the idea of school consolidation. My county has three school corporations and four high schools (plus various smaller elementary schools). And they all play each other at every sport imaginable. Panthers, Cougars, Rebels, and Eagles.

And I like that just fine. School rivalry is a glorious thing, as is fond parochialism in support for one's place of graduation.

But the three school corporations are led by superintendents, perhaps--rightly or wrongly--the three most hated individuals in Harrison County (well, they were, but two of them are now gone and only one remains). As one person locally put it to me, "Why not have one superintendent so we can all hate the same person" (and, I guess, get back to the sporting rivalry).

I'm not sold on school district consolidation (far from it, actually, since I'm quite partial to a school district in my county that would be eliminated under it), but it's misleading to poll district consolidation and not make clear in the poll the difference between district consolidation and school consolidation, and to note the elements of the proposed plan that make it different.