A Matter of 'Rithmetic

The Mississippi Legislature has had trouble funding education in Mississippi and Red Dog offers some advice. Mississippi has some 152 +/- school districts for 82 counties. Do we really need that many school districts? In Washington County we are blessed with four (4) school districts with the annual costs of $377,673 just for four superintendents. This covers just one aspect of administrative costs for just 11,457 students, which seems a bit pricey to me. School district consolidation was briefly discussed at the past legislative session and tabled for discussion later. Meaning it was too hot of political potato to discuss. The following is the data for Washington County.

Hollandale School District
Students - 927
2004 Superintendent salary $88,710 or $95.70 per student
Greenville School District -
Students - 7277
2004 Superintendent salary $107,625 or $14.79 per student
Western Line District
Students - 2069
2004 Superintendent salary $106,338 or $51.40 per student
Leland School District
Students - 1184
2004 Superintendent salary $75,000 or $63.34 per student
Total Washington County
Students - 11457
2004 Superintendent Salaries $377,673 or $32.96 per student

It seems to me that Hollandale and Western Line could be consolidated and Greenville and Leland could be consolidated without much difficulty. Except for the political fallout. I’m not a parent, but if I was, I think I would be asking questions of my state representative and senator. Local taxes are receiving additional pressures from the state legislature’s inability to raise revenue or find additional cuts. This looks like a good starting place to me. Maybe some schools could buy a few more rolls of toilet paper.