York Town News
Governor's education plan puts local schools in mega-district spanning Kittery to Limerick
By Jennifer L. Saunders
Gov. John Baldacci's "Local Schools, Regional Support" initiative would include York and Wells-Ogunquit schools under an administrative district to be located in Sanford. The district would include nearly 18,000 students - the second largest in the state.
Map courtesy of Maine Department of Education
YORK and OGUNQUIT - The numbers are in, and if Gov. John Baldacci's newly unveiled "Local Schools, Regional Support" initiative wins the Maine Legislature's support in its current form, local school children will be grouped in an administrative district comprised of 17 towns and 17,728 students.
Baldacci's plan calls for a reduction in the state's 152 school district administrations to a total of 26 regional centers, "each with one superintendent and one regional school board supporting schools in several cities and towns," according to the Maine Department of Education.
In the case of the York and Wells-Ogunquit schools, LSRS, as the plan is known, calls for consolidation into Region 26, which will be centered around the town of Sanford, and will also include the York County towns of Acton, Alfred, Berwick, Eliot, Kittery, Lebanon, Limerick, Lyman, Newfield, North Berwick, Sanford, Shapleigh, South Berwick and Waterboro while the communities around Kennebunk, Biddeford and Saco will be grouped into a separate district.
In a press release on the initiative, the Department of Education pledges these centers will include regional school boards "governed by representatives from the communities they serve, guaranteeing every parent, teacher and community member a voice in how their schools are governed."
Local administrators aren't so sure about that pledge.
"This is going to have a significant impact on schools in Maine and on children's education," York Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione said after the full plan was formally released last week.
In fact, he said, the state's superintendents had no more information than the general public on the intricacies of the plan at the time it was unveiled.
"We had no idea that this was the model that was going to be presented by the governor," Scipione said.
For years, Scipione has been one of the area superintendents who has spoken on behalf of consolidation plans as a cost-saving measure for Maine schools. However, he said last week that a sweeping plan of this nature, with an erosion of local control and questionable cost savings, does not appear to be in the best interest of students or taxpayers.
As Scipione put it, "There needs to be a level of consolidation; there are too many districts, but this would not be a model that would be in the best interest of our community or our students."
In the case of local schools, both Scipione and Wells-Ogunquit Superintendent Edward McDonough confirmed that the districts receive minimal amounts of state aid beyond what is mandated to meet special education needs in communities across Maine.
"As the details unfold, my first question is whether those savings that are suggested are actually real," McDonough said. "…It's very appealing to hear that we're going to consolidate and we're going to save significant money, but I question those figures."
For example, he said, the latest information is that current contracts for superintendents and teachers will be honored - and some of those contracts span out three years or longer.
"I don't think there's anyone who doesn't think that consolidation is something that has to happen," he said, "but I can't believe that plan is in the best interest of the children of Maine."
Local schools are managed locally and budgets are approved locally, both noted, and yet York and Wells-Ogunquit schools are performing well above the state average on assessment after assessment. To consolidate these districts into one with nearly 18,000 students and a regional center making decisions on buildings and budgeting does not match the local control and budgeting practices of the towns, both superintendents said.
The Department of Education's information on LSRS pledges that no local schools will be closed and that the plan will increase funds put into the classroom by consolidating administration and reducing costs. The plan also calls for a full-time principal in the 151 Maine schools that currently do not have one as well as more funding for professional development for all educators and increased teacher salaries.
And while the superintendent and school board would become regional, the plan calls for the creation of local advisory councils of parents and community members to work with principals at local schools.
The plan includes expanding Maine's laptop program through grade 12 with up to 100,000 additional laptops and promises the state will attain its 55 percent funding level of educational costs within the next two years with an estimate of $241 million in savings over the next three fiscal years.
"Around the state, we have seen examples of school districts working together to find efficiencies - sharing a specialist, making joint supply purchases to save money, jointly hiring a superintendent," the report states. "The LSRS Initiative does that on a much larger scale by creating substantial regional efficiencies, and save (sic) approximately $250 million in the first three years of implementation, while focusing on strengthening local leadership of local schools. The LSRS Initiative centralizes administration, but does not consolidate schools."
In detailing where that savings will come from, the plan notes such factors as streamlining purchasing, curriculum coordination and transportation based on the geography of the state's existing Career Technical Centers.
In the case of York and Ogunquit, that would mean the schools would be run from an office in the town of Sanford - about 45 minutes away.
One of the questions local administrators are grappling with is just how that funding would be allocated to individual schools through this model, and how the vastly different local budgeting plans from community to community would be managed by regional school boards and administrative offices.
For example, York votes on every line item up for budget approval, while other towns that would be part of the consolidated district have governing boards that vote on the majority of annual budget allocations.
Both Scipione and McDonough pointed to such factors as budgeting processes and curriculum in individual districts among the reasons why the quick turnaround proposed by the governor is not feasible.
And, McDonough noted, recent studies have shown the national average for an ideal ratio of students per administrative district is approximately 3,000 to 4,000.
"To go to almost an 18,000-student district seems almost unmanageable," McDonough said.
At the same time, other districts in Baldacci's proposed plan have only 1,000 or 2,000 students each - smaller than the current size of York and Wells-Ogunquit.
"I think the loss of local control is going to be very difficult," McDonough said.
Following a superintendents' conference at which Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron spoke about LSRS on Friday, Jan. 12, Scipione said it is clear the commissioner is endorsing the plan, but that the vast majority of superintendents do not share that perspective.
"The superintendents had a great deal of questions about the plan, and about the quickness with which it was developed and the fact it was exclusionary," Scipione said. "… There is just overall concern over whether this is the way we should be seeing education in Maine develop. … There is just an overwhelming feeling that this is not in the best interest of our students."
Scipione said he and the superintendents he has discussed the issue with are hopeful that, through the legislative review process, this plan will be amended.
"At this point, it has turned over to the legislature, so they're going to have to take action on this," he said, explaining the initiative is imbedded within the governor's budget proposal.
McDonough said he, too, hopes the plan will be changed.
"I hope that somewhere in the middle lies the reality, to let the locals have more control," he said.
Both Scipione and McDonough are scheduled to present information on the plan to their respective school boards this evening, Wednesday, Jan. 17, at meetings that are open to the public.
"It's a matter of getting people educated about it and having opportunities to talk to their legislators," Scipione said. "The strongest voice is going to be from the communities. … Our hope is the legislators will see there are much more thoughtful ways to approach this."
McDonough said he is in the process of learning about a competing measure endorsed by the Maine Municipal Association, Maine Chamber of Commerce and Maine Education Association that also uses the 26 technical centers as the basis for school regions, but includes a process and planning alliance to study and look for ways to see how districts and communities can be working together toward consolidation plans.
"I think the best way to do that is to make sure that locals have control in this process, rather than just a mandate," he said.
