schools. On the other hand, vahiation per capita declines with nearly 

 equal rapidity, it being much higher among the sparsely populated rural 

 towns. Consequently, high costs per pupil are not necessarily evidenced 

 by a high tax rate in every instance. The school tax rates among the 

 52 districts in the eight areas varied from $4.31 to $30.41 per $1,000 of 

 equalized valuation, and both of these extremes occur in rural, sparsely 

 populated towns. 



THE PROPOSED A.R.E.A. PLAN 



nPHE 1961 legislature passed a joint resolution providing for the ap- 

 pointment of an interim commission to study the present organiza- 

 tion of public schools and the post-secondary facilities in the state, and 

 to submit to the 1963 legislature its findings and recommendations 

 (1961 sessions laws, ch. 291) . The commission organized itself into three 

 subcommittees as follows: 



A. Public school districts and supervisory unions 



B. Higher education 



C. Finance 



The final report of the commission to the legislature points out the 

 weakness in the provisions of the existing cooperative school law (RSA 

 195) and suggests alternative procedures. Among the important weak- 

 nesses noted is the lack of any provision for a master plan for the state 

 as a whole. It is possible for two or more districts to organize a coopera- 

 tive without regard for the logical inclusion of other districts in the in- 

 terest of efficient and effective education. Such planning might create 

 orphan communities and could encourage the continuance of small high 

 schools. In some instances the failure to organize a cooperative district 

 has caused dissension among neighboring districts. In any event, adop- 

 tion of the "cooperative plan" has been slow and disappointing. More- 

 over, the cooperative districts in operation before 1961 might appear to 

 offer immediate advantages, but conceivably they might conflict with a 

 more logical grouping of districts in the long run. 



The interim commission's subcommittee on school districts and 

 supervisory unions prepared a master plan for the entire state. This 

 plan provides for the organization of all school districts into logical 

 groups of contiguous towns. On the basis of this master plan the sub- 

 committee proposed a reduction in the number of supervisory unions 

 from 48 to 34, and a reduction in the number of high schools and public 

 academies from 86 to 40. 



The subcommittee recognized a voluntary cooperation among dis- 

 tricts wherein there is an active natural flow of pupils on a tuition basis. 

 For a school accepting tuition pupils the subcommittee proposed the 



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