SMALL SCHOOLS MAY BE CONSIDERED FOR CONSOLIDATION, BUT EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS REMAIN UNCLEAR

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Consolidation may help some of Arkansas’ smallest schools become efficient, but it will not by itself address the problem of providing all students with an equitable education, University of Arkansas researchers contend.

"The smallest schools should be considered candidates for consolidation," said Gary Ritter, assistant professor in the College of Education and Health Professions. "But this focus on consolidation has led us astray from the real question of how to deliver an adequate education to our children."

Since 1983, Arkansas has been challenged repeatedly in court over its constitutional duty to provide a general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools. In November of 2002, the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling on the unconstitutionality of the state’s public school funding and gave the state until Jan. 1, 2004, to correct the situation.

At the 2003 session of the General Assembly, Governor Mike Huckabee unveiled a plan that would consolidate more than 300 small school districts into about 100 administrative units, arguing that extensive consolidation is the only way to save enough to meet the constitutional mandate.

Ritter and Christopher Lucas, professor of education, counseling, leadership and foundations, along with public policy graduate student Joshua Barnett, examined the consolidation issue from two angles. They looked at research data on school size across the country. They also examined school size in Arkansas and its relationship to money spent per student, teacher salary and student achievement.

They report their findings in the Public Policy Working Paper series (http://policy.uark.edu/paperseries) and in the upcoming issue of Arkansas Educational Research and Policy Studies Journal (http://orme.uark.edu).

A survey of literature on high school size reveals an optimal number of between 400 and 900 students. Schools of this size seem to deliver a diverse and rich education at a reasonable cost, when compared to schools with higher or lower numbers of students.

In Arkansas, 68 percent of high schools have fewer than 400 students and 50 percent have fewer than 300 students.

"The problem is, politically and otherwise, what do you do with the very small schools?" Lucas said.

The answer is not apparent, because the researchers found that school size had no clear relationship to academic achievement. But socio-economic status, based on the free lunch program, influenced academic performance-and the smallest schools tended to have higher proportions of students in free lunch programs.

"The literature and the numbers indicate that there are no hard and fast rules. We have to consider all the costs and benefits of consolidation on a case-by-case basis," Ritter said.

Consolidation alone will not address the Arkansas Supreme Court mandate to achieve equitable funding.

"For example, there are schools within the optimal size that are not delivering an adequate education," Ritter said. "How will consolidation help these schools?"

Consolidation will probably prove a useful tool in making school systems fiscally efficient, and in ensuring that the smallest schools reorganize so that all necessary courses can be offered regularly. However, other factors must be taken into account and other strategies devised so that all Arkansas schools provide adequate and equitable educational opportunities. Questions of staffing, teacher compensation, equitable funding and more must also be considered.