Home Rule, but at what cost?
OK, I get the whole “this is our town and nobody's coming in here and telling us what to do” thing. Its a long New England tradition. In The Day we are treated to “School regionalization bills draw ire at Capitol hearing”. At the bottom of the article is a space for you to ask, “What do you want to know about regionalization?” The implication, to me, is that the paper is against regionilazation”, or, at least, their readers are. Probably a fair assumption given that “the Connecticut General Assembly website showed 714 pieces of submitted testimony on Senate Bill 738, and only two were marked as "in support."”. I can't say why they would put in support in quotes, but it backs the notion that the public does not support regionalizing their schools. Or, maybe, they just don't like the way it's being proposed, but likely it's the former. Damn socialists want to run everything.
Why are we so enamored of maintaining tiny towns with tiny school districts? I can relate to the argument made “in a statement, Lyme-Old Lyme Public Schools said that forced regionalization … is foolish and short-sighted." “… the idea this will save money has no merit, and expressed concerns about lengthy bus rides and loss of personal connections between students and teachers.” But precisely the opposite argument is closer to the truth, it will save money, that's why it has been done in so many other places. I went to a regional high school decades ago. We can argue whether is was a good or bad thing, but it was done to, and did, save money. Long bus rides? Longer for many, true. Certainly, if there is only one school building. Where I grew up there are now three school buildings, in different towns, and that shortens the ride. Does that fly in the face of regionalization? Yes, and no. The fact is that the region is still contracting services, and purchasing as a unit, which allows it to buy larger quantities, and cut per piece prices.
Finally, this appears on the same day that the New York Times publishes this “How Much Wealthier Are White School Districts Than Nonwhite Ones? $23 Billion, Report Says”, and the very fact that this is true points out the downside of keeping school districts confined to small towns where there is little mixing of kids from different areas. “Lilly Casiraghi, vice president of the Young Democrats Club at Wilton High School, spoke of how much her parents sacrificed— living in an expensive town — to keep her and her sisters in the school district."We should not be penalized because of our success, and we should not have to subsidize less efficient towns in any way," she said.” Which is the real problem here, we don't want to pay to educate “those people”. Why do we keep separating ourselves into smaller, and smaller, groups, when it is obvious that we can accomplish so much more together. That starts by understanding one another, and that will not happen if we keep ourselves, and our children, isolated.
















