Research


Scope and Content Note

This series consists of correspondence, petitions, applications, maps, reports, and other documents maintained by the Bureau of Rural Administrative Services (later the Bureau of School District Organization) related to the proposed creation, and additions to, central school districts. The records reflect the Bureau's role in providing assistance to school districts wishing to centralize, and in carrying out NYSED policy on centralization, as stated in the Master Plan for School District Reorganization. The series contains files on completed centralizations as well as proposed centralization plans that were rejected by the Commissioner of Education or by school district voters.

Most of the correspondence is between bureau personnel and school district superintendents, school board members, community members, local political leaders, and others regarding the creation of centralized school districts. Topics in the correspondence include the administrative issues related to centralization, such as hiring teachers, constructing schools, establishing new bus routes, and determining the ratio of state funding to local funding applied to the costs of centralization. Also present in the correspondence are discussions within and outside NYSED on the advisability of a given centralization proposal, as well as discussions of public attitudes towards such proposals. Petitions include those administered by school district personnel in favor of holding a special meeting to vote on whether a central school district should be created, as well as occasional petitions submitted by community groups in opposition to centralization plans. Maps in the series generally show the proposed boundaries of central school districts within a given county, as well as the boundaries of existing school districts that would comprise the new school districts.

The series also consists of applications submitted by the district superintendent of schools, for a commissioner's order to create a central school district. Each application contains a list of existing school districts, along with their towns, numbers of pupils, numbers of teachers, costs of maintenance, bonded indebtedness, assessed valuations, and tax rates. Included in each application is a description of borders for the proposed school district, a list of new bus routes and facilities required, and a hand-drawn map of the proposed school districts.

Also included in the series are correspondence and reports from school district personnel and school board members recommending revisions to the Master Plan for School District Reorganization.