Our Interview with Bill Dunn, Part VI: Reducing the Size of County Council and School District Consolidation
Cassandra and I sat down with Bill Dunn last Tuesday evening to discuss his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the special election to replace Paul Clark as New Castle County Council President. Paul Clark will be moving up the ladder to replace Chris Coons as County Executive today. County Councilman Tim Sheldon is also a candidate for the Democratic nomination, and we will be sitting down with him to discuss his campaign shortly.
Here is part 6 of our interview, focusing on reducing the size of County Council and whether consolidation of School Districts is a good idea.
didn’t a study come out recently that larger school districts actually perform worse?
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/03/08/together_we_wont/
Several years ago, when Michigan began promoting consolidation, the Cato Institute’s Coulson undertook a study there and in three other states and reached the same conclusion as Berry. If the goal is to improve academics, there is “no advantage whatsoever to either breaking up districts or consolidating districts,” says Coulson. A 2007 study by Indiana University researchers found student achievement is not improved by consolidation; a 2008 study in Iowa found dropout rates did not decline after district mergers.
No biggee though, we have to make sure we run the state like a business. It’s the best way to treat human beings and is the most efficient way.
Education isn’t as important as saving money. these kids will just have to teach themselves.
Just like they do in Europe, Korea, Japan, China etc….
Read that article Bill if you need info on a study.
Bill, If we allow the people “room to make their own decisions” then they will make logical decisions….which don’t always work.
Although I understand the arguments for reducing the size of county council, I’m not sure I agree with them. I think that generally the more democratic representation people can get, the better. That means having more representatives representing smaller groups of people. It’s counter-intuitive to think that having less representatives representing less people will make them more available to their constituents.
Well said Dana. Especially since the county controls so many quality of life issues – sewer, drainage, rezoning, building permits, code enforcement, NCCPD, property taxes, etc. Having quality access to a councilperson is critical when you have a problem with one of our county offices.
Else reduce the size of council, let them focus on legislation and somehow setup an ombudsman(s) office that can advocate for the citizens?
Consolidating school districts ain’t the county’s business–but getting EMT units over the bridge is……