Could Consolidation Help Solve Mississippi’s Critical Teacher Shortage?

Teaching ecology to 10th graders at Shaw High School

In our ongoing series "Mississippi’s Critical Teacher Shortage" MPB ’s Sandra Knispel looks at possible ways to increase the number of good teachers in the state. One part of the solution is school consolidation.

[Nat sound Shaw High school class room]

This small Delta school district in Shaw is one of 47 so-called critical teacher shortage areas in Mississippi. Nearly one third of all school districts in the state share the same problem: they have too few properly qualified teachers and have to make do with staff on emergency teaching licenses instead. Dr. Cederick Ellis is the Shaw schools superintendent.

“We are unable at all times to find highly qualified teachers," Ellis admitted. "So, that is a problem.”

It’s a no brainer: Mississippi needs better teachers and to retain those worth keeping. One part of the solution is school district consolidation. Former Mississippi Governor William Winter has worked most of his life to improve the state’s public education system.

“We probably do have too many districts. And yet what we have is a very, very substantial reduction over what historically we’ve had in Mississippi. When I was in the Legislature we had almost 2,000 districts. So, we have greatly reduced the number of districts, but probably not as much as we should and I would favor further consolidation,” Winter said.

However, Governor Winter warns that its effect might be “considerably overrated".

“We would, of course, eliminate some administrators, [but] I don’t see how we could eliminate teachers however, and we probably could reduce some overhead," Winter said. "But it would probably be just two or three drops in the bucket in terms of reducing expenditures.”

While the Magnolia state has 82 counties, it boast a whopping 152 school districts. Often a district is comprised of just two schools and a few hundred students, as is the case in the little town of Shaw. Merging one school district with another and closing schools does not necessarily save teachers, but it frees local funds that would otherwise be used to pay for two sets of school administrators. That money could instead be used to increase the local supplement to teachers’ pay, which might deter some teachers from leaving for better-paying states. And fewer schools means more money for the upkeep of the consolidated schools, which in turn also helps with teacher retention.

But Shaw PTA president Jeanette Ollie, mother of a high school and an elementary student in Shaw, is not happy at the prospect:

“My biggest fear is that the state will combine us with another school district. When your child [is] going into a different environment, you’re like the alien. There’s going to be picking. You might get a better education, but if you’re picked on all day long you can’t focus.”

That said, Ollie is open to the idea of consolidating school administrations.

“If we could save $180,000 by getting rid of one superintendent, why not? You know if Sunflower County has a superintendent that covers every school in Sunflower County… so why not consolidate the superintendents? Don’t take the kids out of an environment that they used to and accustomed to," Ollie added.

Speaking at the Capitol in Jackson, Democratic State Representative Cecil Brown, who chairs the House education committee, says a joint committee this summer will look at consolidation to decide whether the idea is worth it.

“It might save some money in some places, but the real question is – is it gonna help advance the public education forward? There are some places where it might, where it might make more resources available to spend on AP classes, or school buildings, or libraries and that kind of stuff," Brown said. "If it’ll do that I think you’ll see the political will to do that. If it’s just a matter of saying we’re gonna have fewer school districts and there’s no real benefit then I don’t think people are going to support it.”

While cutting administrators is a relatively easy sell to the public, closing schools usually is not.

“This is still pretty much a grassroots state and people like having schools in their local areas," Rep. Brown (D, Hinds County) explained. "They want to send their kid down the road. Particularly in rural areas they don’t want to send them 20-25 miles away by bus, so you’ve got to make the case to people out there – it benefits them and their children – before you’re gonna get consolidation passed.”

Of course, playing into the decision over whether to consolidate or not is also the question of race. Combine the wrong school districts in the Delta, alter the racial make-up of a public school drastically, and you could end up with a second wave of white flight from the public education system.