Education Commissioner Recommends Sharing Services to Keep Schools Alive

Shared services and regionalization is New York’s education future, says State Education Commissioner Dr. John King.

Some of New York’s 559 school districts will be forced to merge, and-or consolidate services, like transportation, business office, special classes, and football teams, he said.

"We need to ensure that students are college and career ready when they graduate. It's incumbent on us to figure out 'things we can do to better leverage resources, to help students achieve,'" the commissioner said. “We’ve got to find a way to do that even with all the fiscal challenges the districts are facing.”

King added that political will is required, and tax reform, to steer districts from bankruptcy.