CLARION, Pa. — The following letter was submitted by Jim Reed of Fryburg.

To the Editor:

Our private sector has bent long enough and it time to at least address one of the elephants in the room….

Just some very basic comparisons of the number of Clarion County high schools in relation to respective population to our neighboring counties….

Clarion County Population 37,736 with 7 public high schools Venango County Population 49,069 with 4 public high schools Jefferson County Population of 42,858 with 3 public high schools Armstrong County Population 62,884 with 5 public high schools Forest County Population 7,312 with 2 public high schools.

Quick observation: Relative to all our neighboring counties, Clarion county has roughly TWICE AS MANY high schools per population density relative to our neighboring counties. However, digging a little deeper, the number of students per teacher is 13.3 in Clarion County which is a lot closer to our neighbors that range from 8-13 students per one teacher. The very simplistic conclusion is that while teacher numbers do not appear excessive, the number of bricks & mortar cost with related maintenance along with the added administrative cost could be in question.

There are a number of other stronger “economies of scale” that could be argued as well to consolidate. But at the very least, it simply begs the question — more so now than ever with what is going on in the private sector with rapid inflation and truly lower “net” incomes despite the higher government policy push on wages. So while a county wide re-assessment is looming with all our homes and commercial properties in the private sector (which is probably needed for across the board fairness), it is time to look at the other side of the ledger just as diligently.. And the “elephant in the room” (twice as many high schools) would be a good simultaneous start while the county wide tax re-assessment is occurring.

The experts and consultants can spin the numbers to justifying this need for “twice the number of high schools” all they want i.e. given the rural nature, higher state reimbursements, etc but the state money comes from somewhere — which again, is the private sector.

Our private sector has bent long enough on this matter not to mention a plethora of other things that are nothing more than welfare disguised in glorified merit if these programs are not held to the same fiscally responsible budgets as a private sector business or household budget.

Jim Reed
Fryburg

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