Well known for their market, an annual spring strawberry festival and winter bird festival, the residents of Galt take a lot of pride in their community. That was clear during the parade for resident Stephanie Brown Trafton, who won Olympic gold in 2008.
This bedroom community along Highway 99 just north of Dry Creek in southern Sacramento County has grown from 9,000 in 1990 to 25,000 today.
People in Galt are proud of their five elementary, one middle and two high schools. But like many other California communities, the Galt schools remain divided between separate elementary and high school districts, a relic of an earlier time.
California today has 550 elementary school districts, overlapping with 84 high school districts. The state has only 333 unified K-12 districts.
For years, Galt residents have talked about joining the elementary and high school districts. Led by a strong grassroots community effort in 2004, parents collected 1,200 signatures in favor of a K-12 merger. As one parent said at the time, "There's no reason to have two districts; we're a small town."
But the effort died in 2007 when the elementary district board backed away from the idea. Now is a good time to revive it. In these difficult budget times, school districts should look for ways to streamline - not only to save money but also to create more co- hesive academic programs.
And with the retirement of the high school district's superintendent in June, now is a prime time for the high school board to tackle major change.
Besides the Galt elementary district, the Galt high school district has three other small feeder districts - Oak View (394 students), Arcohe (479 students) and New Hope (203 students). Those districts, too - each made up of only one elementary school - should join in the effort to create a unified K-12 district.
It makes no sense to have multiple superintendents, school boards and administrators for a community of 25,000 people.
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