SAD 3 approves formula for use of arts center funding
Morning Sentinel, December 13, 2006

(excerpt) Contributors who support a performing arts center for Maine School Administrative District 3 now have assurance their money will be spent as they intended, thanks to an agreement reached during Monday's school board meeting.

The district's board of directors unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding that outlines the role the group raising money for the arts center, Future MSAD 3, will have in the center's construction.

The agreement primarily guarantees the money Future MSAD 3 raises will only be used for the performing arts center and gives those raising the money a voice in deciding how the performing arts center takes shape. The agreement also outlines Future MSAD 3's payment schedule and allows the group access to expenses to help keep those who donate informed how their money is being spent.

Click on the title for the whole article.

SAD 48 looks at elementary school plans
Morning Sentinel, December 14, 2006

(excerpt) The decision to consolidate the number of schools in Maine School Administrative District 48 could come down to whether taxpayers are more concerned with protecting their pocketbooks or their heritage.

That was the message district administrators and building committee members offered to selectmen and residents during Wednesday's meeting to discuss a proposal to reduce the number of schools in the district from eight to four. It was the first of dozens of meetings district officials plan to have with community leaders in the coming months to answer questions and gauge the public's sentiment for the plan.

"This is a huge step," said Bill Braun, superintendent. "This is a huge, huge step, but hopefully it's the right direction. We want to know if it's not." The so-called four campus plan was developed by Dexter based M.E. McCormick.

While there are two relatively new middle schools in the district, there are five elementary schools serving six district towns that range in age from the early 1950's to recent additions. All have needs that must be addressed. Nokomis High School is in the worst shape, however.

Click on the title to get the whole article.

Panel rejects bids for school
Morning Sentinel, December 13, 2006

(excerpt) Instead of generating income in the foreseeable future, a prime piece of real estate near the center of town will continue to cost the town $8,000 a year in insurance fees.

The Disposition Committee, charged with considering bids for the former elementary school, rejected both bids Tuesday night. The committee instead decided to entertain new bids for the building, adjacent to Madison Junior High School.

Click on the title to get the full article.

Leaner learning results poised for key vote
Portland Press Herald (Maine Sunday Telegram), December 10, 2006

(excerpt) Even before it became law, Maine's document outlining what students should learn in school was under fire for being too long and too complicated.

Nearly 10 years later, the document, known as Maine's Learning Results, is poised to become simpler and shorter.

The document has been revised and, if approved by the Legislature, will become decidedly leaner. The list of "indicators" -- what students must demonstrate they've mastered, such as being able to describe in kindergarten the differences between plants and animals, or in high school the importance of biodiversity -- has been slashed from 1,131 to 558. The list of "standards," or broad concepts students are expected to understand, such as economics, geography and history, was trimmed from 67 to 41.

"We have taken a step away from an inch-deep, mile-wide set of standards to become more focused on fewer big ideas but deeper knowledge," said Anita Bernhardt, a science teacher hired to head up the revision.

But the jury is still out on whether the revisions will satisfy teachers and school officials, who have criticized the learning standards in the past. They are expected to offer their opinions when the Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee takes up the proposal next month.

Maine's Learning Results grew out of a national movement in the 1990s to make schools more accountable for what students learn. Adopted in 1997, the Learning Results law was considered among the most rigorous and comprehensive in the country. It created statewide learning standards and established a timetable for requiring students to prove proficiency in the standards in order to graduate. The deadline was originally set at 2008 and was later pushed back to 2010.

Click above on the title to read all of it.

Latest school design idea: Go to the head of the claws
Times Record, December 7, 2006

(excerpt) It started with a lobster and ended with a pool.
But if the first and last comments at Wednesday night's public forum on how Brunswick should proceed with plans to build a school were colorfully detailed in scope, the rest of the talk during the two-hour comment session yielded some familiar arguments for and against particular configurations of a new school.
Residents filled Curtis Memorial Library's Morrell Meeting Room for the first of four public hearings PDT Architects, the Portland firm tasked with designing the project, will hold throughout the location and design selection process that will culminate in a townwide referendum on the building, tentatively scheduled for November or December 2007.
"We're going to be asking the community to come back and review the work we've done and give us input," said architect Lyndon Keck, who facilitated Wednesday's forum.

Click on the title to get the whole article!

Most high school tuition rates to jump
Bangor Daily News, December 9, 2006

(excerpt) The state Department of Education has set the dollar amounts school districts may charge for nonresidents to attend their high schools. Three school systems in the state — Ellsworth, SAD 35 in South Berwick and Southern Aroostook Community School District — will see increases of more than $1,000 to their per-student tuition rates. Just 11 of the 117 school systems with high schools will see decreases. The figures can severely benefit or hurt the budgets of school systems, which must predict the figure when their spending plans are written in the spring. Secondary tuition rates are the amounts communities without high schools pay to send their students to a school system with a high school.

Click on the title to read it all!

Related article: State formula altered
Rates available here

New teacher pay system has potential pitfalls
Portland Press Herald, November 30, 2006

(excerpt) The Portland School Committee and the teachers union have approved a new, three-year contract that is expected to raise teacher pay by a total of 13 percent in that period. Some of that is a cost-of-living increase, but the contract also restructures salary grades and offers new ways for teachers to raise their pay.

Previously, teachers had two ways to advance: longevity and degree attainment. By earning one or two master's degrees, or a Ph.D., teachers could qualify for higher pay. Their wages would also go up a step each year over 31 years.

Now there are 10 annual steps and more options for moving ahead in terms of qualifications. A teacher could earn as much as $78,420, while starting pay at the lowest grade would be $33,336.

To qualify for new pay grades, teachers no longer have to earn a degree. Instead, they can get credit for college course work and for taking on professional tasks that enhance their skills. For instance, developing a new curriculum might be seen as a skill-builder worthy of higher pay.

Click on the article title to link to the full text!

New school site formula devised
(Brunswick) Times Record, November 30, 2006

(excerpt) Architects will score potential parcels from one to 10 in each of 23 categories, assigning double points for the categories the committee gives the most import: geographic location and size and shape of parcel, ideally 10 to 25 acres and rectangular.

The double-weighted categories combined the following to create the scoring rubric architects will use to select the top sites: alignment with state planning office standards; proximity to established residential neighborhoods; compliance with local zoning and planning ordinances; potential for building visibility from the roadside; relationship to abutting properties; vehicular congestion; amount of usable land; potential for two-road access; bus route compatibility; sidewalk accessibility; topography; and soil.

Other criteria include access to public sewer and water; three-phase power access; stormwater management; site development costs like ledge and foundation materials; off-site development costs like turning lanes and sidewalk development; solar orientation; road speed and frontage; energy efficiency potential; and access to natural features.

Click on the article title to link to the full text!

State renews push for consolidation
(Brunswick) Times Record, November 30, 2006

(excerpt) The Legislature is about to stir up the always heated debate over whether the state really needs 290 locally controlled school districts, 671 public schools and all those school administrators — one for every 11 teachers — to serve a shrinking school en-rollment.

Right now, there are a little more than 200,000 students in Maine's K-12 public school system. They cost taxpayers close to $2 billion a year to educate, and that enrollment is expected to shrink over the next 10 years to around 177,000.

Several pieces of legislation are being drafted for consideration in 2007 based on three independent studies, all of which came to the same conclusion: Maine's per-pupil costs, which are the eighth highest in the country, are not sustainable given the state's low per capita income.

Click on the article title to link to the full text!