Currents in Education
Maine's school consolidation: the wait continues
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK and OGUNQUIT - With the deadline fast approaching for the Maine Legislature to adopt the state's fiscal 2008 budget, the details of a mandated school consolidation plan still remain to be seen.
As of Tuesday afternoon, local officials were still waiting for word from Augusta on what plan the Education Committee would endorse, and the Appropriations Committee would ultimately approve, to save an estimated $36.5 million factored into Gov. John Baldacci's budget proposal.
Those funds are earmarked to come from education savings as part of the budget, but local selectmen and school officials alike have repeatedly stated they have not been able to get concrete answers on just how a state-mandated consolidation of school districts would result in such savings.
Another concern expressed by officials in "property rich" towns like York, Ogunquit and their southern Maine coast neighbors, is that Augusta's savings will be shifted to local property taxpayers who will, in turn, be losing local control of their schools to a regional school board.
The most recent official word from Augusta came last week, on Monday, May 21, when the Department of Education released a suggested model for consolidation that included no more than 80 regional school units.
In that model, Ogunquit would be included in a regional district (RSU) with Wells, the Kennebunks and Arundel while York and Kittery would be consolidated into a separate district. Except for special circumstances, such as geographic isolation, each district would be required to have at least 2,500 students. In the consolidation model proposed by the Department of Education, RSU 57, including Arundel, the Kennebunks, Wells and Ogunquit, would have 4,217 students while RSU 58, comprised of York and Kittery, would have 3,049 students.
Also last week, working groups that included representatives from both the Appropriations and Education committees presented their plans to address the required consolidation.
As local officials have pointed out, Baldacci's inclusion of the consolidation in his budget means it must be addressed by the Legislature in order for the budget to pass, and there will be no public vote on the plan.
"The Maine Constitution requires a balanced budget by June 30," Sen. Peter Bowman, D-Kittery, who represents York and Ogunquit, as well as other southern York County towns, noted in a recent update on the budget process in Augusta. "Aside from the constitutional constraints, major factors to be addressed in the budget include school administration consolidation, taxes, overcrowded corrections facilities and increased healthcare costs."
Bowman noted the budget requires a supermajority for approval, which means two-thirds of the Legislature must support the budget for it to be enacted.
The new versions of the school funding plan currently being reviewed for inclusion in the budget have differences in terms of such details as the timelines for district consolidation, but do include provisions for communities to decide not to consolidate, with penalties as yet to be determined.
"The expectation is that the Education Committee will work with both plans and merge them into one final plan," explained York Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione. "This final plan will then be reviewed by the Appropriations Committee and become part of the full budget bill. If this occurs, then the full legislature will act on the recommendation."
For more on the local implications of the consolidation, see "From the Superintendent's Desk" in our Opinion-Editorial section.
To find out more about the most recent status of the state's plans, visit http://www.maine.gov/education.
