OBSERVER file photoA group of students protest the reduction of courses at the Sheffield Area Middle High School in Warren County, Pa., last month.
Starting in late August, a major culture change for a group of students will take place in Warren County, Pa. In June, the school board bravely approved a plan to transport students who attend the Sheffield Area Middle High School to the Warren Area High School for the three core courses of math, English Language Arts and science.
Education, which is supposed to be a bedrock of a community, had the township’s foundation and comfort zone shaken. “I think that you guys should not shut our school down,” said Paris Foster, a 2024 senior in Sheffield. “You all were voted on the school board for a reason and that was to make the right decision. The community trusted you at one point and they are hoping to trust to you tonight.”
In reality, it could have been worse.
Similar to what has been seen in Chautauqua County in recent decades, student numbers are falling — and have yet to bottom out. Of the total 1,275 who attend four Warren County high schools, only 134 attend Sheffield — the smallest in terms of enrollment. Those figures are down more than 50% from the 1979-80 school year when 2,899 attended the county high schools.
More recent statistics show a decrease in total number of students in the Pennsylvania county from 4,218 in 2018 to the current number of 3,911 for the 2022-23 year.
For some added perspective, Warren County is one school district. Its cost per student is $23,523. Its board decided last month to approve the changes for Sheffield students. No voter approval was needed. The decision stands.
Chautauqua County, with 18 schools and spending plans that total $555 million, is a whole other cluster. Its current enrollment of 17,041 — according to the New York state Education Department figures from the 2021-22 year– are down from 2017-18 when it was 18,032. The cost per student next year will be $31,929.
Though Warren County schools — with a total budget of $92 million for the previous year — look to downsize due to decreasing numbers and teacher vacancies, New York state’s generous aid formula keeps small districts here on a costly life support system. Small and needy districts receive 70% to 77% of aid from Albany. None of that state money, it must be noted, comes from local property tax dollars.
Jamestown Public Schools, with 4,261 students, is the largest district in Chautauqua County. It has a budget of $101 million and its superintendent earns $186,711 — or $43.82 per student. On the flip side, Ripley Central Schools, which educates only those in kindergarten to sixth grade, serves 121 students. It has a budget of $9.6 million and a superintendent who earns $147,518 — or $1,219 per student.
On those numbers alone, it is easy to decipher the more efficient district. But Ripley did get it right when it came to the secondary population.
Starting in 2013, after a narrow vote by the community, residents approved a plan to tuition students to Chautauqua Lake for grades seven to 12. It remains one of the more proactive decisions when it comes to a better education. Even the Mayville community understands how their population has benefitted from the partnership.
Superintendent Josh Liddell said at a recent meeting the district offers 26 advanced courses totaling 78 college credits. In addition, the STEM program provides students with up to five RIT and four JCC engineering and manufacturing courses.
“Without our collaboration with Ripley, it would be very difficult for Chautauqua Lake to have enough students to run the number of advanced and college credit-level courses we presently have,” he said.
Bigger is not always better — but it does increase course and programming options, which is exactly what Ripley wanted for its older students.
For now, credit Warren County in its efforts to keep Sheffield viable in a much different way. It still wants students to embrace being at the current facility while taking three important courses at Warren Area High School, which is about 21 minutes away.
It is far from a perfect solution. But with traditions in education so tough to break, especially with the connections residents have to the brick, mortar and mascots, a higher entity, such as the state, will likely have to force real transitions.
Local elected officials rarely have the fortitude to take on or make tough decisions. Those who represent us — either in Harrisburg and Albany — are not that much different.
John D’Agostino is editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.
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