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"FOOT IN DOOR" CONSOLIDATION BILL PASSED |
| (03/13/2006) |
| By Bob Weaver It was a "foot in the door" consolidation bill, passed by the WV legislature at the midnight hour Saturday. The Senate, which already approved the bill, held hostage a 20% pay raise for elected county officials, until the House of Delegates came through. They did, passing the metro consolidation bill 57-42. The metro bill is a watered-down version of earlier county consolidation measures defeated during last year's session. It would allow the formation of metro areas with the approval of 55% of the voters. Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, a Kanawha County developer and its' primary shaker, said "We've got an opportunity to work with the various cities and counties that are interested in this." McCabe said commissioners in rural counties need to understand metro government is not something to fear. The legislature used the same thinking when it gave power to the state's School Building Authority over developing a list of state schools to be closed and financing school consolidation. Over 300 community schools have been closed by what has been called a "bloody hammer," with at least 150 more on the block - mostly in poor, rural counties. WV School consolidation has been a steam-roller, when research says students in small schools do better, besides creating bus rides of well over and hour for children age four and up. Sen. Robert Plymale, head of the Senate Education Committee, claims the decision is up to county school boards, but in fact, boards are often held hostage to the state's consolidation plan. Sen. Plymale just killed an almost unanimously supported bill passed by the House of Delegates that would have allowed state voters to have some input on school consolidation in their county. The State School Boards Association join the State Department of Education in heavily lobbying against it, convincing the leadership that such a measure would be a problem for local school boards. Using "economies of scale model" - the powerful yielding the hammer over less powerful, poor rural areas - all in the name of saving taxpayers money. There is virtually no evidence that consolidation has saved money. Proponents for metro consolidation say it will increase eligibility for federal grants available to metro areas with 50,000 or larger populations. In the Louisville, Kentucky metro government system, main Louisville swallowed up the entire county, and now the county is reduced to a non-entity with ceremonial positions.
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