Consolidation Feasibility Studies

Consolidation Feasibility Studies

Now there’s help for school districts considering consolidation and inter-district partnerships 

Can consolidation help your school district save money without sacrificing student achievement and community goodwill?

Answering the Key Questions

• Is consolidation with another school district right for your district – and your community?
• Can you share certain services with other districts without formally merging?
• Can you consolidate functions and facilities

Guiding the Process and Gathering the Data

As part of the process, our team will collect and analyze local data on a variety of topics, including:

• Instructional and support programs (pre-K – 12)
• Co-curricular programs (K – 12)
• Projected future pupil enrollments (pre-K – 12)
• Faculty, support staff and administrative support resources
• Current and future facilities’ space utilization
• Cultural dynamics
• Governance considerations
• Local and state financing considerations (short- and long-term)
• Transportation considerations
• Other ways to share and achieve a functional merger

Demonstrating Sensitivity to Your Situation

Sharing of school services and functions can be an effective way to save money, create operational efficiencies and gain opportunities. It can also be challenging for school districts and communities with strong traditions.

Our AdvisorySolutions’ Consolidation Feasibility Studies team is cognizant of the sensitivities around consolidation – including district loyalty, community and individual initiatives. Our team of experts – including former superintendents and school administrators of successfully merged districts – brings experience, new perspectives and an impartial voice to the process. NYSSBA recognizes what it takes to undergo a consolidation.

Our consultants will compile a report that addresses curriculum and instruction, school district finance, demographics and enrollment, space utilization and the many facets that comprise your school district’s culture and climate.

Let NYSSBA AdvisorySolutions’ Consolidation Feasibility Studies team help you answer these questions and more. Our team of experts will guide the process in an unbiased manner and help you determine what makes sense for your district.

Methodology

The study team’s process enables residents of school district communities to come together with school district leaders and staff to identify and document opportunities and challenges regarding school district merger/consolidation or greater functional sharing.

Elements of the study process include:

• Inclusion of all points of view from the communities involved
• A focus on answering a set of questions identified as important by community study team volunteers
• The role of school district instructional, instructional support, and administrative staff in providing comprehensive data for the study committee to use to answer its questions
• A public transparency of the work and data used by the study committee
• The creation of a study report that becomes the prime useable tool by all members of the communities as they decide how best to educate their children in the future

Having the relevant information from a comprehensive consolidation feasibility study in front of both districts and their communities made our decision making process – and subsequent consolidation – all the more effective.

Samuel Shevat
Retired Superintendent
Cobleskill-Richmondville Central School District

AdvisorySolutions is a product of the New York State School Boards Association and is designed to provide customized school district consultant services in the areas of financial operations, academic programs and strategic planning.