School mergers have a history

School consolidation is nothing new to Indiana.

The last great round of consolidations occurred here in the 1960s, when many township schools consolidated with larger town and city schools.

That was the case in Jackson County, where schools in Driftwood, Grassy Fork, Pershing, Owen and Salt Creek townships merged with Brownstown to form Brownstown Central Community School Corp. And schools in Hamilton, Redding and Washington townships merged with Seymour to form Seymour Community Schools.

Some of those communities, including Tampico and Vallonia, lost their schools, while Freetown and Cortland retained theirs as elementary schools that still educate students and often receive state achievement awards for academic performance.

Crothersville and Medora remained single township districts and now number among the smallest in the state. Medora continued to operate as a township school until the 1980s when it incorporated. Those districts also have among the highest tax rates of all local taxing units in Jackson County.

The consolidation of Hoosier schools didn't stop in the '60s, however.

Township schools in Owen County in west central Indiana, for instance, consolidated at Owen Valley Community Schools in Spencer in the 1970s, with Patricksburg retaining an elementary school, and Switz City, L&M and Worthington schools in south west Indiana merged as White River Valley Schools in 1990.