In Maine, School District Size not Related to Educational Quality, Report Finds
Contact: Philip Trostel, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, 207-581-1651; Catherine Reilly, formerly of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, now with the Maine State Planning Office, 287-1479; Nick Houtman, UMaine Dept. of Public Affairs and Marketing, 207-581-3777
ORONO, Maine — A new report from the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine finds that school district size in Maine “does not have an appreciable effect on measurable educational quality.” In addition, “huge potential cost savings” could be achieved by greater consolidation, particularly of administrative functions.
Written by Philip Trostel, associate professor of economics, and Catherine Reilly, research assistant, both affiliated with the Smith Center, the report concludes that “there is considerable merit to the idea of greater consolidation of K-12 school districts in Maine.” Trostel received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M in 1991 and specializes in labor markets and the effects of education on wages, employment and economic growth. During publication of the report, Reilly went to work for the Maine State Planning Office.
“This report supports what we found in an earlier (2003) study on school district size. If anything, we found greater support for the conclusions that we reached then,” says Trostel.
The new report, Improving Educational Resource Allocation in Maine: A Study of School District Size, is based on school and student performance data from the Maine Department of Education. The Davis Family Foundation and the University of Maine Regular Faculty Research Fund provided financial support for the study.
A key point, Trostel says, is the relative size of Maine school districts compared to national averages. In 2000-2001, Maine ranked 43rd in the country, with an average of 290 students per school. The national average was 506. Likewise, Maine school districts averaged 734 students, compared to 3,177 nationally. Thus, applying national studies of school size and educational quality to Maine must take Maine’s relatively small school district size into account.
The state does not rank at the low end of school costs, however. Operating cost per student was 11th highest in the country in 2000-2001, despite teacher salaries that rank 13th from the bottom.
The report addresses a variety of factors that affect educational costs and quality: student/teacher ratios, the presence of tuition-paying students, socio-economic variables, teacher qualifications, high school drop-out rates, student attendance, home schooling, juvenile crime and student testing.
“In general, greater consolidation of Maine’s educational resources is likely to improve some dimensions of educational quality. It is also likely to harm others. But, as long as we are talking about the school district sizes relevant for Maine, most dimensions of educational quality would be little affected by greater regionalization,” the report says.
The report does not consider two other factors: courses offered and participation in extra-curricular activities. Larger schools are likely to offer a greater variety of courses, but a smaller proportion of students is likely to participate in extra-curricular activities, the authors suggest. It is clear, they add, that decisions to increase school consolidation pose trade-offs.
The report is available online at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center website.