JACKSON, Miss. The Senate Education Committee has approved bills to consolidate several Mississippi School Districts.
The Leflore County School District is under conservatorship for poor academic performance. Last Week, District Conservator Robert Strebeck said that many students score in the lower 25 percentile on subject-area tests and some buildings are in deplorable condition. Committee members agreed Tuesday to merge it with the Greenwood School District.
Separate bills approved by the committee would also merge Winona and Montgomery County and Claiborne and Jefferson Counties.
Senate Education Chairman Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, said the consolidation would produce more efficient districts.
A bill in the House would also consolidate the Clarksdale and Coahoma County districts. If the mergers are approved by the full legislative and the Governor, the combined districts would be operating July 2015.
