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 information systems and preserving minimal change at the school level to build trust. He warned of logistical obstacles when merging districts that do not share payroll systems or master agreements: “Having different agreements means we would need to pay different indices which makes managing a single financial system much more complex.” He said Maple Run avoided some complexity because the merging schools were within one supervisory union and they had a common master agreement.

To demonstrate commitment to keeping a local school open, Kimell said the district invested reserves from the merger into facilities work: “We invested in Fairfield Center School's physical plant by putting nearly $4 million into the building to address deferred maintenance.” He described Fairfield as efficient and supported by the community, with class sizes typically between 18 and 26 students in grades 3–8 and high‑teens in K–2.

Julie Reginald, superintendent of Missiscocoy Valley School District, contrasted voluntary and resisted mergers. She said an experienced, neutral facilitator and clear data were critical for study committees to earn community confidence and for producing usable reports. Reginald recalled intense local resistance during a forced merger process: “When I came here, people were getting in buses going to Eden and state board meetings and protesting the whole process.” She said petitions and a 5% voter threshold — including an effort to privatize Franklin School — consumed time and energy and recommended clearer guard rails around what triggers a study.

Reginald also noted that some efficient, improving districts would not have merged absent state action. She gave an efficiency figure for her district: “we spend $12,173 per long‑term weighted ADM,” and said the district’s test scores have moved from poor toward average as the district stabilized.

During questions from committee members, witnesses were asked whether mandatory study committees could operate on shorter timelines. Both superintendents urged the committee to prioritize quality public input and the professionalism of facilitators over speed. They recommended access to a single, reliable source of data for study committees so apples‑to‑apples comparisons are possible. When a member asked whether a statewide contract for salaries and agreements would ease the process, witnesses acknowledged it could remove a major obstacle but said negotiating such a contract would be time‑consuming and require significant capacity and political will.

The committee did not adopt any policy or vote during this hearing. Chair Representative Colin thanked the witnesses and accepted their offer to serve as resources going forward; the committee adjourned to return to floor business.