Our society seems to be obsessed with the idea that bigger is always better. Sure we’re getting away from the idea that everyone needs to drive a 3-ton sport utility vehicle that gets 7 miles a gallon, but aside from cars and cell phones, not too many things have gotten smaller in the last several years. The push seems to be toward making everything bigger.

The school system is one area where this is painfully obvious right now. Last week, the State Commission on Property Tax Relief released a report listing its recommendations for how to curb the ever-increasing property tax burden felt by so many New Yorkers. The recommendations included a property tax cap and relief from unfunded state mandates, but it also recommended that the state require all schools with less than 1,000 students to consolidate.

In Chenango County, that would mean the end of at least three school districts: Otselic Valley, which has 484 students, Afton, which has 729 and Oxford, which falls just short of the mark with 974.