Be Bold, Northeast Ohio

The Akron Beacon Journal this morning takes a very strong stand on what should come next when it comes making our region's government more efficient and effective.

Consider one set of numbers from ''A Cost of Government Study for Northeast Ohio'' released this week by the Fund for Our Economic Future and its regional partners: The 16 counties of Northeast Ohio feature 223 school districts. The 16 counties of the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area? A mere 16 districts, yes, one per county.

You don't have to be a calculus whiz to deduce that Raleigh-Durham may be saving money, dollars the region could direct to more pressing priorities than the overhead required to operate school districts. Neither is keen analysis required to detect the worthy purpose of evaluating the structure of government in Northeast Ohio.

Here is a welcome invitation to address boldly the redeployment of resources, say, routing funds from superintendent salaries to early childhood education, or sparing businesses the headache of dealing with multiple levels of government.

Anyone for consolidating schools districts to ensure all-day kindergarten across the region?

After noting several efforts under way in the region to improve the effectiveness of government, the editorial calls on the region to be more bold:

Northeast Ohio would do well to form a task force, or something similar, to push the envelope in the realms of consolidation and collaboration. The first accomplishment would be pulling together the task force. The second would be pressing the many players to be true to their high-minded words about change and competitiveness.

Sixteen school districts in Northeast Ohio? Now that's the required revolution.

What do you think? Are you ready for a regional commission to take a serious look at government consolidation and collaboration? Would you be willing to consolidate school administration in exchange for more services in the classroom? Let us know what you think.