The Victors

Whatcom County has a population of about 200,000 people, last I knew.

Within the county there are seven different school districts. Each school district has a superintendent, along with various numbers of assistant superintendents, asisstants to the assistants, administrative assistants to the assistants and so on. Each district has their own procurement systems, bus fleets, policies and procedures, union contracts, and facilities, along with all of the requisite personnel to oversee and manage the various departments and operations inherent in running a school system.

Now, this was a system conceived, probably, at a time when communication and even transportation between the various geographic areas was difficult. It made sense, at some level, that hyper local administration was necessary to respond to the specific needs of the families and students being educated. I would argue that now, in the age of the internet and easy communication, great infrastructure, and general homogeneity of Whatcom County residents, the system is bloated, redundant, and very ripe for reform that would probably save tens of millions of dollars.

This will never in a million years happen. I would suggest that a very large part of any opposition would come from the people who depend on the fractured system for their livelihoods. There would be rivers of bullshit about how essential and necessary it is that we maintain the autonomy of these individual districts for the good of the students, the educational mission, an accurate reflection of the values and specific needs of the communities, blah blah blah. And in an era of infinite resources, sure, whatever, who cares? But in a resource-constrained environment, which we are obviously in, at least the consideration of some consolidation should be on the table. Anyone who would suggest this though will be painted as a monster by everyone involved. While they didn't create this system, they have a vested interest in keeping it just as it is -- indeed, expanding it! -- because real consolidation and centralization would put a lot of people out of work.