Administrators in the six districts hope to pool resources and work with Madison Area Technical College to offer courses in specialized skills that might not otherwise be possible.

The administrators hope to launch by 2010 what 's being called The Global Academy, a hybrid of career-related high school and college courses for high school juniors and seniors from the Verona, Middleton-Cross Plains, Belleville, McFarland, Mount Horeb and Oregon school districts.

Changing enrollments, higher expenses, taxpayer angst and the state 's faulty school financing system are making it harder for individual districts to provide as many courses or offer new ones.

The Global Academy is a wise and creative example of how school districts can continue to improve despite financial constraints. Collaboration is key and can help save niche programs and expand educational options for students.

Details of the proposal are still being worked out. But the six school districts have shown their resolve by setting up a consortium with a starting budget of about $37,000 and posting a job announcement for a part-time program developer.

The Global Academy would offer instruction in architecture and construction; health science; information technology; and science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

These skills are in high demand in the global economy and greatly improve students ' chances of landing good-paying jobs. A larger concentration of highly-skilled workers in Wisconsin also could help persuade more businesses to create jobs here.

The Global Academy is patterned after a similar effort in the Burlington School District, about 70 miles southeast of Madison. Burlington offers high school and tech college courses in a building the district leases to the local college. The college 's lease payments cover the district 's construction debt.

If the six Dane County school districts can negotiate a similar arrangement with MATC, then area students, their parents and taxpayers will have reason to celebrate.

Providing a good education on a tight budget isn 't easy. But The Global Academy points the way for other districts across Wisconsin to pool their efforts so students come out ahead.