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Attend enough Jersey Shore Area School Board meetings and you will see that -- almost with each budget cycle and certainly with each new leader -- the board is confronted with proposals to close schools to cut costs.
And most times in more recent years, the ultimate decision has been no.
Closing of the Nippenose Valley Elementary School was, we believe, the most recent consolidation.
Now we see six members vote this week to keep elementary buildings open and remaining K-5 with students being shifted to equalize class size.
A board minority voted for a scenario that would've seen the closing of Salladasburg Elementary School and reconfiguring grades in the district's other two elementary schools in Jersey Shore and Avis.
We congratulate the board and the administration for its intense investigation into options and proposals to reduce expenses and the burden on taxpayers.
It's that burden that must always be weighed: How can we best educate the youth of our future at a reasonable cost?
Does not closing schools mean future property tax increases to keep schools funded?
Nearby, the Keystone Central School Board appears ready to raise taxes next fiscal year to keep its schools funded.
Sure it does, and that's a decision the board members understand.
Public school districts, for the most part, have closed schools and consolidated over the past decade or more.
Keep neighborhood or community schools -- most of us want that, we believe.
With that, we support K-5 elementary schools; 6-8 middle schools and 9-12 high schools.
That's where we stand because the effectiveness of our education system -- what we are teaching our kids and what they are learning (or not) -- needs to be strengthened and do better because it is fighting social behaviors that throw up huge obstacles.