Don't believe promises on school consolidation

I have some comments regarding consolidation of the schools here in Yuma.

I am a winter visitor from Albany, Ore. Back in the 1970s the school administration was consolidated. A vote of the citizens was required and one argument was “it will reduce administrative costs by having fewer administrators and facilities for those functions,” among other promises.

Well, guess what? It did nothing they promised! It in fact did the exact opposite — it increased administration staff, facilities and you name it.

One bonus we did receive was that we gave up local control of our neighborhood schools, hardly a bonus because now we have students bused from a good distance across the district to the smaller community schools, thereby overcrowding them and once again increasing expenses for the taxpayers.

In retrospect, I should have known the results would be disastrous. When you think about it, can you name ONE government agency that has EVER increased efficiency or reduced operating costs by growing bigger, not to mention the additional control given to spend our tax dollars.

Bill Lengkeek
Yuma