SD5 - Report of the School Division Criteria Study Commission
Executive Summary: The School Division Criteria Study Commission was created by Senate Joint Resolution No. 11 of the 1971 Session of the General Assembly. Senator Hunter B. Andrews of Hampton was elected Chairman of the Commission. George J. Kostel of Clifton Forge, then a member of the House of Delegates, was elected Vice-Chairman. Other members of the Commission* are Senator H. Dunlop Dawbarn of Waynesboro; B. W. Frazier of Gate City, member of the Board of Education; Delegate Ray L. Garland of Roanoke; Senator Frederick T. Gray of Chesterfield; Hilary H. Jones, Jr., of Norfolk, member of the Board of Education; Delegate W. L. Lemmon of Marion; Senator Paul W. Manns of Bowling Green; Senator Willard J. Moody of Portsmouth; Delegate Samuel E. Pope of Drewryville; Ray E. Reid of Arlington, former Superintendent of Arlington County Schools; Delegate O. Beverley Roller of Weyers Cave; and Henry I. Willett of Richmond, Consultant to the President of Virginia Commonwealth University and former Superintendent of the Richmond City Schools. The Division of Statutory Research and Drafting and the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council made staff and facilities available to carry out this study; they assigned the necessary employees to assist the members and the study group at all times. In order to hear the views of interested citizens and organizations, the Commission held three public hearings around the State, in Abingdon on October 9, 1972, in Charlottesville on October 10, 1972 and in Williamsburg on November 13, 1972. Representatives of the following school divisions spoke at these hearings: Buena Vista, Cape Charles, Chesterfield, Clarke, Colonial Beach, Essex, Falls Church, Halifax, Henrico, King George, King William, Lancaster, Middlesex, New Kent, Northampton, Northumberland, Richmond County, Roanoke County, South Boston and Wise. The Commission gathered and studied data on the existing school divisions of the State and examined criteria for school divisions recommended by experts in the field. The implications of the possible decisions in the various school finance and school merger cases were considered and discussed. The Commission's directive was "to study and determine reasonable conditions and criteria which should be set by the General Assembly for use by the Board of Education in dividing the State into school divisions, to the end that the size and composition of such school divisions will, in compliance with the Constitution, promote the realization of quality education for the school children of the Commonwealth." It is not yet possible to evaluate the impact of the “Serrano vs. Priest” and “Rodriguez vs. San Antonio” class action suits and of the Richmond consolidation case on the organizational patterns of public education, nor is it yet possible to evaluate progress toward achievement of the "Standards of Quality and Objectives for Public Schools in Virginia, 1972-74" because these new requirements became effective July 1, 1972, and implementation is just beginning. Therefore, this report deals with three factors considered by educators to be important considerations in determining the minimum size at which a local school administrative unit is capable of providing a quality educational program. Another factor which is dealt with concerns the feasibility of consolidation or reorganization and involves the climate of public opinion and political considerations. Implications for Virginia conclude this report. __________________________ * Senator J. C. Hutcheson of Lawrenceville was a member of the Commission. Upon his death, Senator Gray, formerly a member of the House of Delegates and originally a member of the Commission from that Body, was appointed to fill the vacancy. |
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