In 2007 and in 2008, Newsweek magazine recognized Morrisville-Eaton High School as one of the best in the country based on the number of Advanced Placement courses it offered its students. This year, the Madison County school doesn’t have a single AP class. The district jettisoned them as enrollment and state aid dropped, costs rose and it cut staff and spending to balance its budgets. 

For the sake of the district’s academic program and possibly its economic survival, M-E and the neighboring Hamilton Central School District have agreed to take on a sensitive subject — a possible merger. 

Hamilton, where enrollment has dropped 26 percent in 10 years, has 550 students. M-E has 707 students, down 22 percent over the past decade. 

“These are tough times, and, you know, it’s not fun work, and it’s certainly not making us popular, but we’re at the point of having to look at all options for survivability,” said M-E Superintendent Michael Drahos.