A CLOSER LOOK
The complete list of proposed school district consolidation plans filed with the Department of Education is at www.maine.gov/education/supportingschools/index.html.
The state Department of Education says all 290 school districts in Maine filed their required paperwork listing possible partners under the mandated school consolidation law, and it appears the goal of creating just 80 districts statewide is doable.
The department finished tallying the numbers on Tuesday afternoon, following the long Labor Day weekend, and declared everyone had met the deadline of Aug. 31.
“We are at 100 percent,” said Commissioner Susan Gendron. “I’m thrilled.”
Gendron will now review the proposals the districts handed in to see if they meet the letter of the law passed in June. All districts will be notified if they are in compliance by Sept. 14.
Once Gendron approves the proposals outlining who is talking to whom, the real work begins. Many districts told the Department of Education they intend to talk with a number of possible partners before proposing a final plan that will be on local ballots next year.
The law calls for no more than 80 regional school units statewide and for each unit to have 2,500 or more students, unless that number is impractical. In no case can there be fewer than 1,200 students, except for automatic exemptions given to island schools.
More than 30 districts filed what’s know as an alternative plan that says they will not be consolidating because they are already over the required 2,500-student minimum, are taking the island exemption, are so geographically isolated from their neighbors as to make large-scale consolidation counter productive or are designated by the state as high-performing, efficient districts.
Gendron will decide if those who want to stay as is can legally do so under the new law and also will review whether those who want to come in under 2,500 have legitimate reasons for not going larger. School Administrative District 61 in the Lakes Region, for example, wants to keep it current partners, but is under the 2,500-mark.
“There are some places who just want to keep everything as is,” she said, but that may not be fair to the taxpayers in those communities.
The commissioner said the biggest concern she is hearing is what financial impact consolidation will have on existing districts.
“Some are doing the financial analysis and they haven’t done it correctly,” she said, looking at what consolidated districts would cost today if no cost-saving efficiencies were negotiated.
Others simply don’t like being told what to do.
“It’s a real mix. There are those who absolutely embrace the law and understand that it is beneficial,” she said, referring to Windham, Westbrook and Raymond, which are talking to each other even though Windham and Westbrook are big enough to stand on their own.
And then there are others, like East Machias, which has announced plans to sue the state over the law.
The next looming deadline for school districts that are given the go-ahead later this month to keep talking to their potential consolidation partners is Dec. 1, when final plans must be submitted to the commissioner. Those plans that she approves by Dec. 15 will go out to the voters in January.
Those districts not ready for a January vote must have a plan ready to go on the ballot by June 2008.
Gendron said she believes between a dozen to 18 districts may be ready to vote by January.
“I still think there won’t be a large number,” by January, Gendron said, but, “The estimate is growing. As I’m traveling around the state there’s more desire to get moving.”
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