State Rep Wants To Consolidate School Districts

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Right now, in the state of Texas there are more than a thousand separate school districts and one lawmaker says that's way too many.

State Representative Fred Brown of Bryan has introduced a bill to consolidate the states more than 1040 independent and military school districts down to 254, one for each county.

House Bill 106 would create districts with boundaries coextensive with the boundaries of the county.

Brown says reducing the number of independent school districts would save a lot of money. "The total amount that is spent out of the education dollar, 46 cents of every dollar, goes to pay for administration," he explained.

According to Brown, his bill wouldn't affect the schools or their sports teams, just cut administrative duplication. "We should have one administration for every county. It doesn't change the makeup's of the schools, or the mascots, or the football teams or any of that."

While Brown says the streamlining would reduce a lot of administrative duplication, some educators say the change might end up costing the state more money and creating more bureaucracy.