Innovation and school consolidation

The suburbs are home to loads of public school systems.

Just under 300 of them, all told, located here in the six-county area around Chicago. That represents about a third of all the public school districts in Illinois.

In the Cook County suburbs alone, there are more than 140 school districts. In Lake County, there are 45. In DuPage County, 42. Even in somewhat less populated suburbs such as Will County, there are 29, and McHenry County, 19.

In each case, there are more school districts than in all but a couple of other counties in the state. That makes sense in a lot of ways. Most of the state's population is here. And we in the suburbs place a high priority on education.

Yes, the suburbs are home to loads of public school systems.

But there is a notable exception. Kane County is home to only nine school districts.

What's the difference? Is it population? Kane County's population trails those of Cook, DuPage, Lake and Will, to be sure, but it is far from minuscule. More than half a million people, according to the 2010 census.

The real difference is the kind of school system. Every one of Kane County's public school systems is a unit district. In every one of them, grade schools and high schools are under one umbrella.

Want to hear something amazing? If the state did nothing about school reorganization except eliminate the notion of dual districts, overnight you'd have about one-third the number of current school systems in DuPage, Lake and Will counties. In suburban Cook County, you'd have even fewer. In McHenry, you'd have about half.

At first blush, the proposal last week by Gov. Pat Quinn and endorsed by the Illinois State Board of Education to eliminate 600 of the state's 868 school districts through consolidation seems extremely bold. In fact, we described it that way in our headline.

But it may not be as bold as it seems. It may simply be common sense, assuming the bugs can be worked out.

Certainly, it's more complex than our rather flippant reference here to “overnight” reductions.

We see, for instance, how it could save the local schools a considerable amount of money and increase efficiency and grade-level articulation. But we don't see how it would have a dramatic impact on state coffers unless the state equates that local savings with a reduction in its obligations.

And the issues of local control and academic performance need to be addressed. So the jury is still out.

But we believe the idea represents the kind of innovation and creative thinking that today's environment demands.

It's worthy of aggressive and genuine study.