factoid

Spotted this in the Times Book Review last night:

Town, county and state governments no longer have much independent political identity. They are mere “conduits for federal mandates,” as Codevilla puts it. He notes that the 132 million Americans who inhabited the country in 1940 could vote on 117,000 school boards, while today a nation of 310 million votes in only 15,000 school districts.

The State of Conservatism
By CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL
Published: October 21, 2010

A couple of years ago, when busing costs were at issue here in Irvington, we learned that at some point in NY history the state 'incentivized' (hate that word) districts to consolidate by picking up some of the transportation costs. I no longer recall the details, and the story doesn't make sense given the fact that the town is paying transportation costs, not the state.

But I'm pretty sure the state-incentivizing part is correct in some way, and it's interesting in light of Codevilla's statistics.