Research


Administrative History

The Master Plan for School District Reorganization was created to guide the process of centralizing rural school districts. The consolidation of small rural school districts into larger central school districts was first enacted into law in Chapter 55 of the Laws of 1914, which provided for the formation of "Central Rural Schools." In 1925, the Cole-Rice Law (Chapter 673 of the Laws of 1925) was enacted, which provided state financial aid for transportation and school construction in order to encourage rural school districts to consolidate. The pace of centralization increased in the 1930's, but the process of centralization was criticized as piecemeal by the Regents' Inquiry into the Character and Cost of Public Education in 1938. The Inquiry recommended that all new central school districts have at least 600 students in daily attendance, and at least 1,200 students when possible. In response, the Bureau of Rural Administrative Services was created in 1943 to facilitate the process of school district centralization, and a master plan for school consolidation was created by the Joint Legislative Committee on the State Education System in 1947. The Bureau of Rural Administrative Services was renamed the Bureau of School District Organization in 1964. By 1959, the number of school districts in New York State had fallen to under 2,000, down from around 10,000 in 1925. Overall, the movement toward centralized school districts was reflective of a national trend towards greater involvement by state governments and state education agencies in the administration and funding of public schools.

In the mid 1950s, Commissioner James E. Allen appointed staff members to an Advisory Council for School District Reorganization, with the intention of studying the state of school district centralization, and proposing revisions to the Master Plan for School District Reorganization. Some of their recommendations were incorporated by the Joint Legislative Committee on the State Education System into a revised version of the master plan in 1958.