Category: default || By jt3y

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From Sunday's Post-Gazette:

When the state directed a financial board of control to run the Duquesne School District in October 2000, then-Secretary of Education Eugene Hickok said he hoped it would bring financial stability. But, "more importantly," he said, he hoped it would help the children "get the education they need and deserve."

After more than six years, it hasn't happened yet.

Instead, the district's financial state has worsened and its options for students have narrowed.

"It's like the perfect storm," said Chris Berdnik, director of finance for Pittsburgh Public Schools, which the state hired last summer to help manage the district. "You've got a declining population base, declining enrollment, significant competition through charter schools, high special education costs, a challenged local tax base."

Enrollment, according to Shawn Farr, who has chaired the Duquesne board of control since July 2005, has been in a "death spiral," from 925 in 2001-02 to 746 currently. Staff turnover has been high. The district's test scores have stayed at or near the bottom in the state for years -- though some improvement on state math and reading tests appeared last year.

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Does anyone think this is fair to the students of Duquesne, who are getting a subpar education?

Does anyone think this is fair to the city of Duquesne, which has a hard enough time attracting new development without the stigma of a failing school system?

Civilized societies should not allow this to happen.

It is long past time for the Duquesne City School District to be absorbed into one of the neighboring systems. West Mifflin Area (which already incorporates Whitaker Borough) is the obvious candidate, but Steel Valley also might make some sense.

In the meantime, West Mifflin's refusal to even discuss a merger has a distinct odor. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association --- which has a vested interest in maintaining as many school boards as possible --- should also be ashamed of itself for opposing school district mergers.

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People can point fingers (justifably) at teachers' unions for allegedly holding back reform of public education in Pennsylvania, but our 19th-century school board system --- which encourages political patronage, inefficiency and the worst kinds of chauvinism and parochialism --- shares a lot of the blame.

Los Angeles County, Calif., with 9.7 million residents, has eight school districts. Allegheny County, with 1.2 million residents, has 43.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should provide financial incentives and support for school districts to merge. Legislation recently proposed by state Rep. Nick Kotik is a good first step, but there may have to be some shotgun weddings. It would be nice to see some leadership on this issue from the governor's office in between selling the Turnpike and legalizing slot machines.

Pennsylvania has many problems, but few are as blatantly obvious as the failure of small urban school districts like Duquesne's. Enough is enough. For the future of Duquesne and the entire Mon-Yough area, the next class to enter the independent Duquesne City School District ought to be the last.

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P.S.: Officer Jim will be back. They let me out of the room with the really soft walls long enough to scrawl a cartoon and blather for a little bit.