Superintendents tell House Education committee Act 46 mergers brought fiscal stability but require time, facilitators and clear agreements

Two veteran superintendents told the House Education Committee on March 24 that school district mergers carried out under Act 46 delivered fiscal stability for some communities but required significant time, professional facilitation and carefully crafted articles of agreement to preserve schools and community trust.

Bill Kimell, superintendent of Maple Run Unified School District, said a primary motivation for his district’s merger was “the tax incentives.” He said the district was able to stabilize its education tax rate before a funding change in FY26 and that, “for the first eight years, we did not have an educational tax rate higher than the pre-merger rate.” Kimell cautioned that property owners focus on total property tax impact driven by the common level of appraisal (CLA), not on the education rate alone.

Kimell described early post‑merger priorities: aligning business, human resources and…