Kudos to James Hoover for his recent letter to the editor. He mirrors my sentiments completely — and in the past I have had published a similar letter.
Having lived in a number of places — Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, West Virginia and Florida — I saw the tremendous difference in school taxes in those states. All have countywide districts or a major city as the school district and the school taxes were half or less than Pennsylvania. Student outcomes were equal or better.
Beaver County has 14 districts, some with less than 1,000 total students and one with only 299 students. Each of these districts must have a superintendent, a variety of support personnel who could certainly meet the needs of a countywide district without repeated duplication of effort, and individual purchasing processes which inherently are more costly due to the smaller orders. Moving to a countywide system does not require any new school construction; the current facilities would be utilized or modified to meet the countywide needs of all students.
Until Pennsylvania recognizes this very outdated and costly system, school taxes will continue to escalate.
Kathleen Kellinger, New Sewickley Township