Back in the mid-1980’s, my father used to work for the largest data processing outsourcing company. A company owned by Ross Perot. He can identify if, when and how a company can be outsourced and the tasks needed to accomplish this. One of the best criteria for a successful takeover is how normalized that facility is to the receiving site. Companies that have many unique and complicated systems makes for difficult outsourcing ventures; however, the task of outsourcing is greatly minimized when there are few differences.

When a company is acquired or scheduled to be outsourced, one of the first things that is done is to normalize the acquired site to that of its future host.  This reduces the host’s costs and support requirements as the old shop is easily absorbed into their pre-existing infrastructure. Many times, the receiving company will make that site go through all the hard work of standardizing itself to the new company’s standards before they are eventually absorbed and their employees furloughed.

In many respects, the governor’s actions to punish the suburban school systems, in favor of the Abbott districts, will force many of suburban districts to strip away the programs that make their school systems unique and attractable to home buyers. Besides directly impacting property sales, home values and their associated property taxes, this sets up the school districts to become easily merged with neighboring districts. The more districts that do this make the concept of county-level school districts more of a reality. Since all the schools will become effectively the same, the task of centralizing is greatly minimized.

Here is a link to Governor Christie’s desire to merge local services and the accompanying Quinnipiac University poll showing that voters approve merging school districts:

NJ.com Article, dated November 26, 2009

Before our town cuts the core programs that make our school district unique and attractable, such as AM Beck, AVID, Campus Police, Elementary Spanish Teachers, Guidance Counselors, IB PYP Coordinators, ISS, Mt. Misery, Music Programs, Sports Programs, Student Advisory Counselors, TAG, consider that these acts may forever alter CHPS in the near future.

Before class sizes are increased to other school district levels, including Camden City, consider that this may ease a county-level merger.

Addressing what is roughly a 7% cut in funding may trigger future events that will become impossible to alter. Once a site is outsourced or merged into another facility, there is virtually no coming back.

THERE WILL BE NO DO-OVERS OR MULLIGANS!