Is Bigger that Much Better? School District Size, High School Completion, and Post-Secondary Enrollment Rates in Maine

If recent news stories from across Maine are any indication, opposition to the state-mandated school district consolidation effort is growing. Communities are finding that instead of saving money, consolidation may result in massive cost increases. Questions regarding the ownership of school property and the effects of consolidation on school choice concern many others.

What few appear to be discussing though, and what seems never to have been discussed throughout the entire torturous path of the new “reorganization” law, is the effect that larger school districts will have on students. The focus has more or less always been, and continues to be, on money.