Voters’ rejections of school consolidation proposals in 143 towns will generate more than $6 million in penalties during the next fiscal year, money that will be used to fund transition costs for the towns that voted in the affirmative.
The priority for the Department of Education will be ushering the approved plans forward and helping 17 towns that accepted consolidation only to have their prospective partners vote no. The naysayers will pay the penalties for a year or longer if they don’t join school administrative units that conform with the state’s school reorganization law.
The Department of Education says voters approved 24 new school units while rejecting 22 proposals, with one vote still scheduled for March. The Maine School Management Association disputes those numbers because in some places, the department counted school units that conform with the law even though towns that had proposed to be part of them voted no. The association’s tally is 25 rejected plans and 21 approved, according to a press release.
While some say the penalties should be upheld, even while overall state funding for education is dwindling, others say given the large number of rejections, the state should soften its stance.
“I think the penalties need to stand,” said Gov. John Baldacci on Monday, three days after the statutory deadline for approving plans. “We can work with those communities … but we want to be firm and say the penalties are there for a reason.”
The school consolidation law, proposed by Baldacci as means of consolidating the state’s 290 school districts into approximately 80 regional school units, was passed by the Legislature in June 2007.
In April the Legislature enacted revisions to the law that helped some towns navigate around obstacles involving state subsidies and cost-sharing agreements, but even with numerous school units working toward instituting their new arrangements by July 1, the concept of school consolidation faces challenges, including approximately 30 bills proposed by legislators to modify it and a citizen’s petition to repeal the law altogether.
The petition, submitted last fall, is still being verified by the Secretary of State’s office.
Legislative leaders said all the proposed bills will lead to considerable debate this session, though anything the Legislature decides could become a competing measure against the repeal petition on the November ballot if the secretary of state certifies enough signatures.
“I don’t think this issue is resolved,” said House Speaker Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven. “Anything the Legislature does is in some form a competing measure if we can’t get a two-thirds vote. Right now we’re trying to spend some time determining what actions we can take.”
Rep. Patricia Sutherland, D-Chapman, House chairwoman of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, said Monday that her committee awaits a Feb. 9 briefing by Education Commissioner Susan Gendron about who accepted their plans and who rejected them.
“I’ve heard lots of different numbers,” said Sutherland. “We’re just trying to get a firm handle on real numbers because there are many variations. (Gendron) is going to have to really drill down to hard numbers so we can see across the state where we are.”
The Feb. 9 meeting begins at 1 p.m. in room 202 of the Cross State Office Building in Augusta.
Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, Senate chairman of the education committee, agreed that the first step is determining exactly where the state stands.
“We’ve got parts of Maine that have jumped feet first into reorganization and are excited about the beneficial effects it will have on students and teachers,” said Alfond. “When we have more people under one roof, it provides better opportunities for your students. Others have voted it down. I’m looking forward to knowing why and understanding where would they like to go.”
Alfond said that the positive votes, combined with districts large enough to stand as they are, represent approximately 80 percent of Maine’s population, which is in line with his understanding about how most public policy comes to be.
“It’s a pretty astounding fact that 80 percent of the state is reorganized through this process,” he said. “It’s always the last 10 to 20 percent that is the challenging piece in any public policy.”
Senate Minority Leader Kevin Raye, R-Perry, who has opposed the law from the beginning, interpreted the results of the votes in a different way, saying that many small, rural districts are the ones that are left without partners.
“It validates the arguments that many of us made in opposing this law, that a top-down, ham-handed approach will not be successful,” he said. “It’s playing out exactly as I had predicted. This process was made as coercive as possible and was intended to leave communities with no other option.”
Scott Porter, a school superintendent in Machias, is also president of the Maine Small Schools Coalition.
“We have been trying to advocate for other alternatives that work for rural Maine,” said Porter during a telephone interview. “A lot of the plans have been defeated, particularly in rural Maine. It has a lot to do with our geography. We’re so far from neighboring districts.”
Porter said the Department of Education’s characterization of the success of the law is misleading because school districts that were big enough to remain as they were are being counted among the success stories.
“If you really analyze the numbers, it’s been far from successful,” said Porter.
David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Department of Education, said much remains to be done for everyone involved, regardless of how they voted.
“We are reaching out to every district that voted against reorganization to find out what happened,” he said. “Some places are satisfied with their votes, but there are many places looking at next steps, which could involve seeking out new partners.”
Geoff Herman, director of state and federal relations for the Maine Municipal Association, said his organization opposes the penalty system “because it divides the state,” and has submitted legislation through Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, that would invert the penalty system into an incentive system for districts that approved their plans.
“My personal view is that if we can get the animosity out of the system by changing the penalty structure I would have to say on balance that (the consolidation law) was successful because it got people talking and working together,” he said. “There’s been more open communication between municipal and school systems because of this law than there would have been in the past, but it’s wicked frustrating.”
(Statehouse News Service)
