2004 Year in Review

Would a combined Morrison - Fulton District be great?

“Will the children benefit from the merger, will they succeed and be better students?” Wendy Ottens, Fulton’s Riverbend School Board President summed up the first meeting between Morrison and Fulton’s School Districts. “Next year we will be cutting deep, classes will be larger and it will not be beneficial to the students.”

The two districts discussed their current strengths and weaknesses Wednesday evening at Morrison High School as the district administrators wrote down their comments. “There are a lot commonalities,” Morrison’s Administrator Dr. Jody Ware surmised after looking at the two lists. Morrison has a student population of around 1200 to Fulton’s 1100. Fulton encompasses 80 square miles to Morrison’s 119. “They almost match bullet for bullet,” Ware said after examining the two lists. Morrison has an EAV of 2.64 on $84 million. Fulton is at 2.6 on $80 million and each district has a 2005 proposed budget around $3.7 million. Both districts are suffering from devalued farmland, declining enrollment, and loss of state funding.

The group of fourteen board members then discussed opportunities and threats that could confront the two districts if they merge or if they don’t merge. One important consideration both district agreed on is if they would be eventually forced into a merger by the state, they would rather be proactive than reactive. “It may be painful to be proactive but reactive would be more painful,” Riverbend’s Superintendent Donald Mulch commented.

They agreed the problems with state funding are “here to stay” and they don’t see much positive at the state level”. Schools all over are facing the same financial problems. The question is “will two good districts make a great district?” But what changes and hurdles will a larger school district bring (with 2300 students)? The state has different standards for larger districts.

To put it into perspective, the newly merged district would be a little smaller than Geneseo School District, which had 2891 students in 2003 with a teaching staff of 176 persons, and not as big as Sterling with 3505 students and 225 teachers according to the Illinois State Board of Education.Kewanee had 1837 students with 91 teachers. Most area schools have around 1000 students.

“Economics must drive this,” Steve Swanstrom of the Morrison School Board remarked. "We have to have a plan."

Many opportunities could be available if they merge. A successful merge could help economic and community growth and help in recruiting and keeping good teachers. Students could see more course offerings with less financial burden on parents. Some of the threats in merging included community pride, emotional bonds, fear of change, and future teacher contracts. “Both districts have an emotional bond to their Steamers and Mustangs,” one member noted. “But children are resilient, their parents may be more emotional.” They all agree is was more important to do what was best for the students.

Touring each other’s buildings and looking at each districts financial records could be the next step. Both communities have remodeled and have newer facilities that are also not paid for.

“The dialog is an opportunity. Our first priority is stability and keeping kids first,” Mulch concluded.

Ware concluded, “Together are we better than we are alone? We need to continue to share.”

Morrison Board President Sally Gray commented, “The meeting went well. We are opened minded. The format was wonderful. We are new to all this. If we go forward with this we will have public meetings for input.” Morrison’s Board has not voted to move forward with the merge yet.

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
April 16, 2004