School board candidates told Evanston residents at a forum two weeks ago that they are all in favor of consolidating Evanston’s school districts, and a new proposal by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn may make that possibility a reality.
Candidates for the April elections have discussed combining the city’s two districts into one. As it stands, Evanston’s D202 contains only Evanston Township High School, while D65 comprises all the elementary and middle schools in the city.
On Wednesday, Quinn suggested consolidating Illinois’s 868 school districts to under 300 in his budget speech. As part of his plan to reduce Illinois’s $13 billion budget deficit, Quinn proposed creating a commission to look into the number of school districts and how to consolidate them.
“Consolidation lowers administrative overhead, improves efficiency and will save taxpayers $100 million,” he said in his speech.
Illinois has the third-highest number of school districts in the country, many of them containing only one school. Quinn’s plan will force these districts to consolidate, potentially without the need for local vote or legislative approval.
Evanston officials said the two districts already work closely and it would be worthwhile to look into combining them.
Diep Nguyen, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction at ETHS, said middle school curriculum directors work closely with high school department chairs to ensure that students are properly prepared for high school. ETHS department chairs have to meet with their middle school counterparts on a monthly basis, she said.
The two school systems have a long history of collaboration between the science, math and physical education departments, Nguyen said. Last year, the Illinois Board of Education adopted common course standards for math and English. The two districts formed a joint committee to figure out how to meet those standards.
“We’re beginning conversations so we can start to find out common concerns,” Nguyen said.
The school districts collaborate on more than just academics, said Mark Metz, a two-year D202 board member and candidate for reelection this year. ETHS provides lunches for many schools that do not have kitchens, and the two districts have a joint line of credit. Additionally, the Park School, a school for disabled students, is jointly run by the two districts.
“I support examining (district consolidation) because our first priority has to be how can we best support our kids’ education,” Metz said.
There are many financial concerns that accompany consolidating the districts, D202 school board candidate Jonathan Baum said. The districts could save money by having only one administration for all schools, instead of one for each district, he said. However, he said there are also costs. Right now, there is one teachers union for each district, and each union has different pay scales. If the two were combined, there is a possibility that the salary for all teachers would be increased, Baum said.
“There’s a common consensus that we need to at least start looking into consolidating,” Baum said.
One reason Illinois has so many school districts, including ones such as 202 that contain only one school, has to do with the Illinois constitution, Baum said. In the 19th century, the state constitution had a limit on how much taxing any unit of government could do, he said. In response, cities made many small units of government, such as separate districts for different government functions.
In addition to consolidating school districts, Quinn proposed eliminating state funding for salaries and office costs for regional school superintendents as another way to reduce overhead.
“The $13 million annual savings will be spent in the classroom, rather than on administration,” he said in a statement.
