York Town News
School debate hits the floor
By Jennifer L. Saunders
Third-grade students at Coastal Ridge Elementary School celebrated their year-long study of their home state with Maine Night on Thursday, May 31. Pictured here are just a few of the students who performed an array of Maine songs under the direction of music teacher Karen Littlefield. Also pictured is Hugh Beaton with his project on Maine blueberries. At the same time last week, local town and school officials were gearing up for a Saturday morning meeting to decide how to address Maine’s most recent plan for the future of education and what it could mean for the community as a whole.
Photos by Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK and OGUNQUIT - The future of local education is now in the state's hands.
Debate was expected to begin Tuesday on the floor of the Maine House of Representatives as the latest version of a state-mandated school consolidation bill makes its way through the Legislature as part of the state budget.
On Saturday, June 2, local legislators Sen. Peter Bowman, D-Kittery, Rep. Dawn Hill, D-York, and Rep Windol Weaver, R-York, were in town for an emergency meeting held at the York School Department to discuss what this means for York.
Also in attendance were the majority of the School Committee, the full Board of Selectmen, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione and Assistant Superintendent Jim Amoroso.
The one and only agenda item was the most recent draft of the consolidation plan, which calls for York to be matched with Kittery in a new regional school district.
The plan does include an opt-out provision - something York officials have asked for since Gov. John Baldacci first presented his much larger plan to group York and its neighboring southern Maine communities into a regionalized school unit of about 18,000 students. However, the penalties for that opt-out provision include forfeiting all state aid for federally mandated special education services, as well as York's minimal general purpose aid from the state.
The irony, Scipione said at the meeting, is that the net results is the state will keep more money - beyond the $36.5 million it has budgeted to save with its new plan - in the form of funds withheld from any community that chooses to opt out.
"That was not part of the fiscal intent," Bowman assured those in attendance at Saturday's meeting.
According to the Department of Education, under the current plan "Existing school units should aim to form regional school units of at least 2,500 resident students, except where geography, demographics, population density, transportation challenges and other obstacles make 2,500 impractical. Where 2,500 is impractical, the units must aim to create units of at least 1,200 students" with a maximum of 80 school units statewide.
Whether or not school districts consolidate, the draft states each unit must show how it will, by July 1 of next year, reduce system administration costs to statedetermined levels and reduce transportation, special education and facilities and maintenance expenditures by 5 percent.
"All reorganization plans are subject to voter approval. The Department of Education will fund an election in January of 2008," the Department of Education synopsis states. "The referendum will clearly state the penalties that will apply if voters disapprove of the reorganization plan. "
As part of the budget, state General Purpose Aid for Education will be reduced by $36.5 million in fiscal year 2009 and all units will have a reduced allocation for system administration, transportation, special education and facilities and maintenance.
"This train's on the track and it's likely to pass, in my opinion," Hill said of the current draft.
Weaver disagreed.
"I don't think the budget's going to pass right now without the school consolidation plan pulled out," he said.
The question on the minds of local officials was just where that budgeted $36.5 million in savings would be coming from. Selectman Dwight Bardwell, who spent many years on the School Committee and served as that board's chairman, questioned how such savings would be realized with such factors as the funds required to honor existing teacher and superintendent contracts still unknown.
"I'm not here to argue that consolidation is not needed in the sate of Maine. Some consolidation needs to occur," Scipione said. "The question is the impact on the community."
According to the current draft, beginning at the start of fiscal year 2010 - July 1, 2009 - any districts that do not consolidate will face penalties including the loss of the minimum state subsidy and all state funds for system administration while receiving "less favorable consideration in approval and funding for school construction."
In York's case, officials pointed out on Saturday, the only impact would be the loss of its minimum-receiver funds for education, as York currently does not receive the other funding listed as penalties.
"The issue I have, sitting on the School Committee for seven years before the Board of Selectmen, is York has been forced to pretty much go it alone," Bardwell said. "It's punitive to me. ... It's not about education at all. It's about money."
That penalty had local officials urging the legislators to draft an amendment.
After a discussion of a range of options, Scipione suggested proposing an amendment that "minimum receiver" towns like York, which receive the smallest amount of general purpose aid to education allowable under state law, be allowed to opt-out of the consolidation in return for reverting back to the 55 percent funding level for special education.
That would still mean a significant cut, as York currently receives 84 percent of its special education costs from the state - to the tune of about $2.2 million. At the 55 percent level, York would stand to lose about $800,000 in funding.
Bowman offered to look into the possibility of York remaining a stand-alone district, while Hill and Weaver agreed to present a written amendment for discussion on the floor of the Maine House.
The School Department proposal, forwarded to Hill and Weaver for inclusion as a written amendment on Monday, states that the rationale behind the proposal is the penalties are excessively punitive and further penalize towns that currently receive the minimum share of state aid.
"This amendment would provide a more reasonable choice for communities to consider thus making the opt-out a viable option for communities to consider," the draft states, including, among other points, that "minimum receiving towns are already contributing significantly to the state budget while receiving little state aid in return."
Monday morning, Hill confirmed that she and Weaver filed the amendment under Weaver's name.
"We got the over 800-page budget yesterday," Weaver said Tuesday morning. "We will be debating it today, along with proposed amendments. The biggest stumbling block in the budget is school consolidation and the plan is changing."
They were told, however, that the proposed amendment - which is one of many being proposed by legislators across the state - would have no negative impact on the budget if it is approved.
"Much discussion and several meetings and caucuses occurred Monday about the school consolidation. Monday evening the Legislature gave the budget its first reading - a term of art - since the reading of the massive document was waived," Hill wrote from Augusta on Monday. "But the first reading gets it on the floor to set the stage for debate on the pending amendments. I imagine that for the next few days the budget and in particular the school consolidation portion of it will consume our time."
Meanwhile, the Ogunquit Board of Selectmen was scheduled to hold an executive session on the issue at its meeting Tuesday evening, June 5. No information was available at press time.
The school administration consolidation draft may be viewed at http://www.maine.gov/legis/ofpr/AFA_School_Consolidation_Draft_5-30-07_5PM.pdf.
