Voters Shoot Down 2 Different School Mergers in the Southern Tier

Sometimes change is good and sometimes it isn't. Last night the voters in 4 different school districts decided this time it is not good.

We've known about the Chenango Forks and Chenango Valley merger proposal for a while, but not until recently, did we learn about the Spencer-Van Etten and Candor talks.

In a landslide straw vote, Chenango Forks residents turned down the chance to merge with CV. I can't blame them; their taxes would've gone up while those in Chenango Valley would have gone down. I am sure the emotional issue of the school rivalries also came into play. In the Chenango Valley vote, only 100 votes separated the sides, with the "no" side also coming out ahead.

That's it then. there will be no CF-CV merger.

The merger that the media didn't really cover was that of Spencer-Van Etten and Candor. The vote there last night was also a thumbs down to merger, but voting tallies were close in both districts.So, no merger there either!

Mergers are thought to help tax payers and schools due to being more cost effective. New York would also kick in more money to the schools systems after merger. For now, we won't know how it would've been better. The issues may come up again.