Consolidation of Indiana Schools

1960s Consolidations Transformed Indiana Schools

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Education in Indiana went through a huge transformation around 50 years ago, when a wave of school consolidations dramatically reduced the number of small school districts. The impetus was the Indiana School Reorganization Act of 1959, which called for each county to develop and implement a reorganization plan. The effort reduced the number of school districts from 966 to 402. Districts with fewer than 1,000 students fell from 801 to 156.

“The America High School Today,” an influential report by retired Harvard professor James B.  Conant, was published in 1959 and reinforced the push for consolidation. Conant argued that modern high schools needed to be large enough to have 100 students in each class. Indiana settled for a bit less, setting a standard of at least 1,000 students in each district, which would have meant a minimum of about 80 students per class in a one-high-school district. Another guideline was that each district should have at least $5,000 in assessed property value per student.

The state didn’t force schools to merge, however, and there were hold-outs. Even today, there are 53 school corporations with fewer than 1,000 students. Indiana is near the middle of the states when it comes to average school-district size. It didn’t go so smoothly everywhere. “Some of the  opposition came because the small schools were losing their basketball teams,” Baldwin said. “The basketball team was associated with the community and they didn’t want to give that up.”

 

 

 

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