Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 12, 2023 10:20 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Greg Scott |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | School District Consolidation Study Commission |
| Currently, our Commonwealth has a total of 500 school districts. Previous acts by the General Assembly have reduced the number of school districts down from 2,506 in the 1960s, and former Governor Ed Rendell was the most recent Pennsylvania governor to propose the idea of further consolidating school districts in 2009, but without any success. Proponents of these efforts note that fewer school districts would reduce administrative costs and increasingly burdensome property taxes. However, efforts to incentivize school districts to consolidate have been met with little success, with only one consolidation completed without a statutory requirement to do so. Costs for school districts and property taxes are only continuing to increase, requiring the General Assembly to act, which is why I am introducing legislation to create the School District Consolidation Study Commission to study and make recommendations related to the reorganization and consolidation of the current 500 school districts down to 100, similar to former Governor Ed Rendell’s 2009 proposal. It is important that we explore the possibility of once again consolidating our school districts as the General Assembly has done in the past, in order to increase the efficiency and quality of our public schools. Our children and the taxpayers deserve a school system that uses taxpayer money in an efficient manner to provide valuable education to its students. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation so that we are able to make informed decisions on how to make our school system the best it can be. |
Introduced as HB2313