A proposal by a Jim Thorpe school board member to consolidate Carbon County's five school districts into one faces enormous hurdles. During the past decade, there have been three statewide and regional studies on the pros and cons of such mergers across the state, and in all but one instance nothing happened.

Gerald Strubinger Sr. has been a decadelong proponent of countywide school systems such as those found in other states across the nation and believes that "serious money" can be saved by going this route.

Instead of five superintendents, high school principals, business managers and other top-level personnel, the number could be streamlined, Strubinger believes. He would like to make his case for such a merger with representatives of other county districts starting with the largest - Lehighton. The other districts in the county are Palmerton, Panther Valley and Weatherly.

The state's Legislative Joint State Government Commission and the Independent Fiscal Office are jointly looking into school district consolidation after the House Education Committee voted unanimously last year to study its pros and cons.

Sponsor State Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery believes there are opportunities for administrative savings by tearing down school district boundaries.

Several of Vereb's colleagues who support the bill take for granted that school consolidation adds up to big savings, but three studies of a similar type since 2009 showed no significant savings. Despite a lot of chatter on the subject, the last voluntary merger was in 2009 when the Center Area and Monaca school districts in Beaver County became the Central Valley School District.

In 2009, then-Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, proposed in his budget address reducing the number of districts in the state from 500 to 100. The proposal never got off the ground.

One of the studies, conducted by the Independent Fiscal Office, evaluated the potential savings available to York County if its 15 school districts combined into one large district. The study found that "even under the most aggressive assumptions for administrative savings, there would be no real estate tax savings for the median homeowner." The study also concluded that there would be a big loss in state funding for the county and minimal savings in administrative costs.

Strubinger does not envision closing schools, even though there are financial disparities among districts such as Lehighton, Palmerton and Jim Thorpe vs. Panther Valley and Weatherly. "We (Jim Thorpe) have an $18 million fund balance. Lehighton is doing good. Panther Valley is struggling. Weatherly is going broke. I just think there are a lot of things we could do better together," Strubinger told the Times News.

Since the 1960s, Pennsylvania has experienced several rounds of consolidation, including the merger of small community districts into regional districts. Coaldale, Lansford, Nesquehoning and Summit Hill, for example, all had separate school districts until they were consolidated into Panther Valley in 1964. Today, there are 500 districts in the state, down from the 2,277 in the early-1960s.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association is opposed to any statewide mandate to consolidate, according to Steve Robinson, senior director of communications. The association supports any locally inspired economic impact studies, he added.

His association conducted a study on the issue in 2009, which was updated in 2014. In noting that the merger of school districts is a politically charged issue focusing on the claims of savings to taxpayers and improvements in student achievement, the study found that as consolidation of buildings occurs, power tends to move away from parents, students and the local community.

"If merger is merely for the purpose of saving money, then there is little evidence that this actually occurs," the school boards association study said. "If improved student achievement is the intended purpose, the available evidence shows an opposite result. To be successful at merger, policymakers need to do extensive study of all aspects of the proposed merger. … Proposed mergers need to involve the citizens as part of the decision process."

One of the major complaints from taxpayers is that there are too many administrators in the schools. Pennsylvania has more than 7,000 full-time administrators, making this category an inviting target for politicians trying to score points with voters. On top of that, school enrollment locally and statewide has been declining - down about 5.5 percent since 2014-15.

Of the hurdles that keep districts from merging, one of the biggest fears is higher taxes and lower property values. Then there are the various union contracts and budgets, along with the millage rates that support them. One study concludes that "inevitably, one district has higher taxes, bigger debt and lesser academic quality - or some combination of those."

"There's no guarantee that costs will go down," said Arnold Hillman, a consultant with the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools at Penn State University. "You really don't know until there's a serious investigation into what you're talking about."

While we remain skeptical that countywide consolidation is a step in the right direction, we are supportive of a study if it can show taxpayers and residents specific numbers and information to consider.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com