Okay, again, these sound like major flaws and you're ready to advocate for fewer districts. Despite the point made earlier that some communities truly hold tightly to their small school districts, as it is a rallying cry for the community and a place to consider home. But, instead, let's just look at the point made here about Athens County vs Scioto County. I admittedly know little about either. What I do know is that Scioto is much more spread out, more than 100 sq miles larger than Athens. But, that may advocate for a couple more school districts, but not double, right?

Well, let's look at the cost per pupil in both districts along with how they're performing academically. The state cost per pupil on classroom instruction is $6326, and the operating cost per pupil is $9353. With that known, let's check out these two counties.

ATHENS:
Athens City: a C from the state report card. They spent $7207 on classroom/$9671 operating
Nelsonville-York: a D from the state report card. Spent $6217 classroom/$9253 operating
Alexander: a C from state report card. Spent $5966 classroom/$8902 operating
Federal Hocking: a D from the state report card. Spent $5951 classroom/$9315 operating
Trimble: a D from state report card. Spent $7266 classroom/$10383 operating

Overall Athens County* spending: $6521 classroom (above the state average)/$9504 operating (above the state average). Their performance has two districts with a C on the report card, three with a D.

SCIOTO:
Wheelersburg: a B from the state report card. Spent $4897 classroom/$7036 operating
Bloom-Vernon: a B from the state report card. Spent $5762 classroom/$9210 operating
Valley Local: a C from the state report card. Spent $5510 classroom/$8242 operating
Northwest Local: a C from state report card. Spent $5985 classroom/$8976 operating
Clay: a D from state report card. Spent $4921 classroom/$7526 operating
Minford: a C from the state report card. Spent $5090 classroom/$7736 operating
Washington-Nile: a C from the state report card. Spent $5521 classroom/$8282 operating
Green: a C from the state report card. Spent $6254 classroom/$9627 operating
Portsmouth: a D from state report card. Spent $6362 classroom/$9055 operating
New Boston: a D from state report card. Spent $4746 classroom/$8059 operating

Overall Scioto County* spending: $5504 classroom (well below state average and more than a thousand dollars per pupil less than Athens)/ $8374 (again, well below state average and more than $1100 per pupil less than Athens). Also, they have two counties that receive a B, five that receive a C, and three that receive a D. They academically outperform Athens County and spend less significantly.

* -- there isn't a simple breakdown by county, so this is an average of each district. Obviously, they are not the exact same size. However, I think that may skew the numbers worse for Athens County, as Athens City is one of the most expensive in the county and is the largest by far in terms of enrollment.

So, I can't find support for your (inferred) argument that Athens is in a better place either academically or fiscally due to their more consolidated districts.

This !

To assure all students receive a public education that meets our N.J. Constitution,the state created Abbott Districts.

Basically that meant throwing a whole bunch at the districts,and hoping for the best.
Didn't work out very well.

Plus,they created the Schools Development Authority to administer it.
That was/is nothing but a patronage mill.
In fact the last director had to step down for a number of reasons,including lying about her qualifications.
She also fired a whole bunch of long time employees and replaced them with friends and relatives who were as unqualified as she was.

You totally misread the state report cards on spending. Athens City spends a total of $9671 per pupil - $7207 on classroom instruction and $2464 on non-classroom spending. The state average spending per pupil is $9353. Russia, the school akroncat went to, spends $$9557.

In the Russia district, the average teacher makes $52,168. In Athens it's $66,000+. The districts are very similar in the teachers' years of service and educational attainment. One of the big differences is in the number of courses students can take. You just can't offer a broad curriculum in these very small schools.

Sounds like Jay is sucking up to the educational lobby again. Also sounds like he's afraid of a little competition.

Here is a link to the aformentioned Vanlue School district. Check out what they are spending per pupil - almost $3000 more per pupil above the state average to service 165 kids. In fact, 1/3 of the students in the district open enroll in other districts. And the average teacher there has 7 years experience and makes $39K.

https://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/district/finance/04...

Over a 20 year period my students have never scored lower than a 3 on their AP subject test and the average is a 4.3. Last year my students had an average of 4.9 on the AP exam

That seems to the case around here too.
The students that take the A.P. tests,seem to score well on them.

Thing is,as I posted,a significant number of kids in what are supposed to be A.P. classes,especially in math or science, don't take the A.P. tests.

That seems to be,to a great extent,their teachers not pushing them to take the exams.

Those are the students I referred to as not being prepared for college level work even though they got good grades in their A.P. classes.

They are also shocked when the see just how poorly prepared they are for classes like Calculus,Physics and Chemistry.

The people in my committee feel that any kid in an A.P. class should have to take the A.P. exam.
That provides an objective assessment of what they learned.

We do that at FDU,by having engineering students to sit for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam.

Our underclassmen take the AP Exam in very high numbers around 80%, not so much in the senior classes, but a lot of that is attributed to early action commitments to schools that only give credit for 5’s. Example is I’ve had an MIT bound student each of the past 4 years, by the time they have to pay for the exam they have realized the AP exam will do nothing for them. A couple years ago we had a student score 10 5’s on 10 test, this student got nothing but empty hours that counted nothing towards graduation. Nationally the numbers taking the AP exam are falling, this is one reason the College Board is moving the registration date for exams to the fall before early action kids get their acceptance letters.

[/QUOTE]And every year Athens has some of the highest achieving students in Ohio, regularly leads all Appalachian districts in National Merit Scholars, the highest in AP scores, and regularly send several students a year to Ivy League schools and some of the best schools in America. Athens also has a high rate of poverty in the district and those students achieve at a high level too. Athens offers a good variety of curriculum, AP and CC+ courses as well has an award winning vocational arts and FFA programs. 70% of Athens students participate in some sort of extra-curricular activity as well. Athens is not a large school and many areas. [/QUOTE]While Athens has some very bright students and an experienced and dedicated faculty, the state report cards paint a slightly different picture in terms of achievement levels than you paint in the quote above.

https://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/school/achievement/...

Much of that is the result of high poverty numbers and 20% chronic absenteeism. If you check districts across the state, the two go hand in hand.

Sometimes the pay for Superintendents is a real head scratcher. The Tiffin City schools Superintendent was hired at $175,000 starting salary a couple of years ago from the Marion City Schools. Marion is right near the bottom of the totem pole in student achievement. Add insult to injury a couple of days after he got the job, the new Superintendent got an OVI in Tiffin--must have some sort of party. Anyway, the Board was in a forgiving mood and let it slide. It wasn't too long ago that this would have been a no-brainer. He would have been gone.

Keep in mind that the Olentangy and Dublin City Schools Superintendents, as well as most of their wealthier suburban Superintendent colleagues across the state weren't making that kind of money. Dublin has 3 large high schools and an assortment of middle and grade schools, Olentangy has 4 large high schools and an assortment of middle schools and grade schools. Tiffin has one high school of less than 900 students, one middle school and three elementary schools. Talk about hitting the jackpot!
https://www.toledoblade.com/local/courts/2017/09/19/Tiffi...

Athens High School Superintendent will make $195K when his new contract is up in 4 years.

There are approximately 610 school districts in Ohio and each has its own superintendent and school board.

Akron is making steep cuts this year even after the buyouts. Their situation is the most dire, but they are a harbinger for a lot of public schools in Ohio.

This article features a wildly optimistic plan to phase in up to $8 million in new money from athletics to cut the reliance on the general fund.

https://www.ohio.com/news/20190612/ua-budget-for-2020-inc...