By Nora O’Neill for The Charlotte Observer
Catawba County commissioners will vote next month on a plan to merge the county’s three public school systems into one.
The proposal, which would consolidate Catawba County Schools, Hickory City Schools and Newton-Conover City Schools, is moving forward despite opposition from local school leaders and community advocates who question both the process and the potential impact on students. The Catawba County Board of Commissioners announced Friday it will hold a public hearing and vote on the merger plan at its April 20 meeting, following months of discussion and community meetings last fall.
The plan is aimed at addressing uneven enrollment trends across the three districts, with student numbers declining in Hickory City and Newton-Conover while growing in Catawba County Schools, according to Catawba County spokesperson Amy McCauley.
“Sustained long-term student enrollment declines in both Newton-Conover City Schools and Hickory City Schools have led to significant under-utilization in current school facilities,” the county said in a statement. At the same time, “increasing student enrollment in Catawba County Schools has caused a demand for more school classroom capacity.”
County leaders say combining the systems could stabilize funding, expand academic and extracurricular opportunities and allow more flexible use of school facilities across the county, according to Amy McCauley. They also point to potential cost savings by avoiding new construction in the Catawba County Schools district while making use of underutilized buildings in the city systems.
Newton-Conover City Schools has about 2,600 students enrolled, Hickory City Schools has about 3,700, and Catawba County Schools has around 16,000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Some leaders in Catawba County don’t like the plan
But some community and school leaders say they strongly oppose the plan, arguing it would erase local identity and may not deliver the financial benefits the county is promising.
“We have a story to tell. We have done great things in Newton-Conover City Schools. We have our own identity. We want to stay consistent,” said Emily Shaw, superintendent of Newton-Conover City Schools. “Our community deserves that.”
Shaw said both Newton-Conover and Hickory City Schools have been aligned in opposing consolidation, even as the county has continued to develop a merger proposal. She also disputed the county’s financial rationale, saying district leaders who have reviewed the proposal believe it could actually reduce funding.
“The fact of the matter is there’s not a huge cost savings… from the rough numbers that we have pulled it looks like we’re going to lose money,” Shaw said. “But we can’t get them to understand that or to see that, and I think at this point they don’t care. They just want to merge.”
She pointed to potential changes in state and federal funding formulas, including Title I and Title II allocations, that could shift if the districts are combined.
Shaw said her district has worked to improve performance and tailor programs to its students, efforts she fears could be lost in a larger system.
“If we are forced to merge, those may not be goals or initiatives that they wish to continue,” she said.
The superintendents of Catawba County Schools and Hickory City Schools did not respond to requests for comment, but Hickory City Schools has posted notices on its website with concerns about funding, services, and the potential reassignment of students.
How could merger affect students?
Community leaders have also raised concerns about transparency and whether the merger would benefit students.
Ida Clough, president of the Hickory NAACP, said she has not seen evidence that larger school systems necessarily produce better outcomes.
“Bigger is not always better,” she said. “The primary interest seems to be that there will be some initial short term monetary or financial or economic gain. But there’s nothing in the literature to suggest that there are major long term advantages from school mergers.”
Clough said she believes there are still unanswered questions about how a merger would affect students, particularly those with the greatest needs. She has concerns about equity, transportation and whether resources would be distributed fairly across a larger, countywide system. Clough also criticized what she described as a lack of transparency in how the proposal has been developed.
Under North Carolina law, county commissioners in a county with multiple school systems can adopt a merger plan, even without agreement from local school boards, as long as the proposal ultimately receives approval from the State Board of Education, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The process requires a public hearing, but not a voter referendum.
In Catawba County, commissioners held four public meetings in October to share data on enrollment and facility use and to gather input from residents, McCauley said. The board later directed staff to develop a formal merger plan, which is now set for a vote. The April 20 meeting is expected to draw public input ahead of the commissioners’ vote, which would determine whether the proposal moves forward to the state for final approval.