| Will West Virginia's urge to merge affect local school systems?
The urge to merge and consolidate counties and community government is now a greater possibility, following legislation passed this year by the WV legislature.
Government consolidation is constitutionally linked to local school systems, and what would happen when counties are dissolved or merged needs legal clarification.
On the heels of Fairmont and Marion County looking at government consolidation, Senator Brooks McCabe, the state's consolidation guru, says he would like to see Kanawha, Cabell and Putnam consolidated by 2010.
Like the dynamic movement that is changing the the nation's economy, McCabe says he would like to "globalize WV," eliminate multiple county governments, which likely means eliminating local school boards.
Most at risk are rural counties, or the de-constructing of community control over government and education.
Bigger is better and more efficient we're told, with little evidence to prove it.
Advantage Valley wants local chambers of commerce, businesses and governments to work together to help West Virginia become a more powerful economic force by the 2010 census.
Finding Bogeymen?
Mark Dempsey, AEP vice-president and director of Advantage Valley, says "If there are any bogeymen in this bill (consolidation), I can't find them. It doesn't make anybody do anything they don't want to do."
No bogeymen?
Sounds like the WV Department of Education spinning that school consolidation is "strictly a local issue decided by a local school board," when in fact school boards have been held hostage by the powerful School Building Authority to consolidate.
Former gubernatorial candidate Loyd Jackson, one of the architects of school consolidation, when asked about his position on consolidation would only say "It's a local issue."
Communities have become outraged, school boards taken over, and court cases filed to overrule public will.
There are blocks that make government consolidation difficult, but it is a foot-in-the-door proposition.
McCabe said "We need to look good in the national census," or he could have said, it's good to merge low-census counties into larger census counties.
"We don't set the bar high enough (in West Virginia)," he said. "It [consolidation] will empower us. ... It's about changing our self-image," or bigger is better.
"Metro government would be the ultimate in regional cooperation," Dempsey concluded.
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