State proposes eliminating local testing

Bangor Daily News, January 31, 2007

(excerpt) The Department of Education has recommended scrapping the local assessment testing program and replacing it with a state-mandated requirement that every high school student be eligible for college acceptance upon graduation.

Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron outlined the recommendations Tuesday during a press briefing and an appearance before the Legislature’s Committee on Education and Cultural Services.

Gendron stressed that all Maine students still would be expected to take the state-produced Maine Education Assessment tests and College Board SAT now required of them. She said the repeal of the "controversial" Local Assessment System would enable classroom teachers to devote more time to instruction rather than teaching the test.

"We’re focused on the learning, not on the tests," she said.

Gendron said recent studies had determined that the local assessments had "shown only minimal value" to overall learning. More emphasis should be placed on schools aligning their courses toward college acceptance, she said. She said high school test results had been flat for years and that a major change was in order to rectify the situation.

Gov. Baldacci, pull your plan

Times Record, January 26, 2007

(excerpt) Playing hardball might work in politics — Baldacci's proposal has a lot more to do with politics than it does with education — but it's no way to initiate dramatic changes in the way Maine educates its children. Baldacci needs to work with local school officials, not against them, to make any consolidation proposal succeed.

Apart from the fact that the governor presented the package with all the finesse of a blindfolded rhinoceros on roller skates, his current proposal is riddled with flaws.

The three most glaring are:

* Timing: Proposing to implement a plan that radically realigns an entire state's public school governance model in a way that will alter life in Maine's classrooms and affect the professional duties of thousands of school district employees by July 2008 defies logic. Baldacci proposes no similar timeline for streamlining state government, another Brookings Institution recommendation.

* Budget pressure: By building $36 million in speculative savings from school district consolidation into his biennial budget, Baldacci creates a situation in which legislators will have to fill yet another budget hole if they don't endorse his plan. School reform should be judged on its own merits, not as part of budget deliberations.

* One size doesn't fit all: The governor's proposal repeats the same mistake state government has made for decades in trying to fund education. It applies a single standard to Maine's widely diverse school districts and communities. A far better proposal can be found in legislation sponsored by Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport. Her bill calls for 26 regional school planning entities that would inventory each region's assets, then craft plans that maximize savings based on what works best for each specific region. That makes more sense.

Voters opt to renovate school, nix new wing

Bangor Daily News, January 25, 2007

(excerpt) Local residents voted Tuesday to renovate the town’s elementary school but rejected a proposal to build a new wing onto the back of it.

David Bridgham, business manager for School Union 92, said Wednesday that the vote means the town will borrow money from the state to improve substandard features such as the lighting, the electrical system, and the water supply. Ceiling tiles will be replaced, a vapor barrier installed in the roof, and two new smaller boilers will replace the existing one, he said. If there is enough money remaining, the school’s septic issues also will be addressed.

"The gym will stay as it is," Bridgham said. "The portable classrooms will remain."

The decision to borrow money to renovate the existing structure was made by a 3-to-1 margin, with 582 voters in favor of it and 185 voters opposed. As for borrowing more money to construct a new gym and classrooms off the back of the Route 184 structure, that was defeated in a 420-348 vote.

Town eyes secession from Union 96

Bangor Daily News, January 20, 2007

(excerpt) The Washington County town of Steuben is exploring a secession from School Union 96 in nearby Hancock County, a decision that could end what has sometimes been a strained relationship between the two counties.

School committee members in Steuben discussed with town selectmen last week the idea of withdrawing from the district, which includes five other Hancock County communities.

"As of three weeks ago, it was my understanding that the town did not have any interest in withdrawing. Then, the governor’s plan came out," Union 96 Superintendent William Webster said Friday.

Webster was referring to Gov. John Baldacci’s recent proposal to consolidate the state’s number of school districts from 152 to 26 in the hopes of saving $250 million.

The plan, if adopted, would create one district for all Hancock County communities and would likely be headquartered in Ellsworth.

Because Steuben is currently part of Union 96, it also would be included in that new district, and some school committee members said that’s a bad idea.

Gendron makes case for reform

Times Record, January 23, 2007

(excerpt) Gendron said capital construction projects — such as a proposed new Brunswick elementary school and a possible future project at Mt. Ararat High School — would have to be approved by a majority vote of the entire regional district if they are still in the planning phase at the time the governor's model is implemented, assuming the Legislature approves it.

As to how debt service for construction projects would be divided among members of a new regional district, Gendron said she wanted to "go back and look at that question."

After each of the five school board representatives had asked questions and shared their perspectives, Malin handed Gendron a statement from the Maine School Boards Association Board of Directors, which she said is "basically asking you and the governor to abandon this proposal." The statement criticizes Baldacci's proposal as "hastily drafted," "ill conceived" and "divisive."

Gendron said at least five alternative bills addressing consolidation have been proposed. A hearing on school reform has been scheduled for 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Augusta Civic Center, although Gendron said "(Education) Committee members have been told to keep their week open."

Legislators from Sagadahoc County will be at West Bath School at 7 p.m. today to discuss the proposal, and the SAD 75 board of directors is scheduled to meet with their local legislators and a representative from the Department of Education on Thursday.

Lamoine school project a concern

Bangor Daily News, January 12, 2006

(excerpt) Many of the more than 100 people who attended a public hearing Wednesday night expressed support for a proposed $3.4 million school renovation project.

Not everyone at the hearing in the Lamoine Consolidated School gym was enthusiastic about the proposal, however.

The impact on local property taxes and the possibility that future school consolidation could make an expanded school obsolete were among the concerns raised by some attendees.

But most of the applause Wednesday night followed comments urging residents to support the proposal when it goes before the voters on Tuesday, Jan. 23. Polls that day will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the town office on Route 184.

"Regardless of whether it’s 130 or 150 students, they deserve a better facility than what they have now," Stuart Branch said from the back of the school’s underused gym.

Panel hears update on school plans

Bangor Daily News, January 23, 2007

(excerpt) ... when the city of Ellsworth expressed interest in building a new kindergarten-through-fifth-grade elementary school adjacent to its existing middle school, Oak Point had to think outside the box.

"It was kind of a shoehorn fit, but everything does fit," Rob Tillotson, Oak Point’s president, said Monday at a meeting of the Ellsworth School Committee’s building subcommittee.

Rather than build from scratch at an empty site, city leaders have opted to construct a new elementary school on the same site as the middle school, off Forrest Avenue.

"We want to make it clear that this is a new K-5 building that just happens to be attached to the middle school," Ellsworth Superintendent Frank Hackett said.

The two schools would have separate libraries and gymnasiums but would share a cafeteria. The plan would allow renovations at the middle school to be included in the project.

The site plan and design concept still need to be approved by Ellsworth residents, and then by the state Board of Education, but the building committee seemed pleased with the project at Monday’s meeting.

A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 30, and the committee urged residents to attend and share their ideas and concerns.

Incentives key to reducing school administrative costs

Bangor Daily News, January 19, 2007

(excerpt) State rules require every school administrative unit, or SAU, to have a superintendent and to assign students to their town-operated public school. State rules set forth a host of regulations that require administrative oversight. So long as state rules do these things, there is little chance that changing the number of SAUs will reduce administrative costs per pupil.

Other states have tried to consolidate districts to reduce costs. They have not succeeded. See the experience of West Virginia, Wisconsin and Arkansas, for example (Rural School and Community Trust, "The Fiscal Impacts of School Consolidation," www.ruraledu.org).

Why does this seemingly logical reform not work? Because bureaucracies are skillful at creating new positions. How many new assistant superintendents will each new district have within 5 years? Bureaucracies find ways around mandates. Who would decide how such costs would be measured over time? What would be the consequences to a mega-district for not reducing per pupil administrative costs? A fine imposed years down the road would have little effect on operations now.

A major reason school administrative expenses are high is the state rules that now govern SAUs. So, cost-saving reform should start by reviewing and changing those rules. Allow towns and districts freedom to reorganize in ways that they can see will save money.

Waterville school officials blast governor's plan

Morning Sentinel, January 23, 2007

(excerpts) The Board of Education on Monday night blasted Gov. John E. Baldacci's plan to consolidate school districts, calling it too extreme and too fast.

"Has anyone talked about the idiocy of the timeline?" Superintendent Eric L. Haley asked Board member Pamela Trinward, a state representative.

"The timeline is absolutely ridiculous," she said.
...
The Maine School Management Association sent a memo to superintendents, legislators and others Monday, urging a large audience at the four meetings before Feb. 5 and asking parents and others to ask questions and share their concerns with Baldacci and Gendron. Trinward urged that people attend the Feb. 5 meeting as well.

"I think it's very important that you get the message out," she said.

Haley and Trinward said the idea that no schools would close as part of the governor's plan is ridiculous, as school buildings needing expensive repairs probably would be closed.

The assertion that each school will have a principal also is unlikely because some schools are so small they would not warrant principals, they said.

"People need to understand when you go to a mega-school system for cost-savings, to actually receive those savings there are going to be some painful decisions made," Trinward said.

Haley said there has been no serious discussion about how the plan would enhance the quality of education.

"They care about saving a dollar," he said. "It's a money issue; it's a tax issue. I don't hear any arguments about how this is going to make teaching better."

Think tank backs school plan

Portland Press Herald, January 23, 2007

(excerpts) A nonpartisan group that analyzes state spending announced its support Monday for Gov. John Baldacci's plan to reduce the number of school districts, but questioned whether it will save as much money as the governor projects.

Two members of the Maine Public Spending Research Group, a relatively new Portland think tank dedicated to monitoring state spending, told members of the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel editorial board that the governor's plan will save about $37 million in the first year.

That's significantly less than the $65 million first-year savings Baldacci and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron believe will be saved.
...
However, the group's analysis of the numbers doesn't match what's been promised in the second year of the state budget, said Moore, a former superintendent in the Gorham and York school systems.

He said the state is relying on savings in unrealistic projections of fixed costs.

"The value is in the out years, when you have these regional boards and they are making decisions about resource allocation," Moore said.

County official wary of streamlining by state

Bangor Daily News, January 19, 2007

(excerpt) State plans to streamline county government actually will do the opposite in Aroostook County, according to a local official.

County Administrator Doug Beaulieu said Thursday that if two recommendations from a state advisory commission are implemented, they would undercut the county’s charter and create unwanted bureaucracy.

Not only would the plans increase the number of county commissioners, which Beaulieu said could create gridlock and longer meetings, they also would force the county to disregard its own charter and rights of "home rule."

Beaulieu said county commissioners during their Wednesday night meeting in Fort Kent discussed the details of the Intergovernmental Advisory Commission’s recently released recommendations to create greater efficiency across the state at the county level.

The IAC was created in 2005 to improve communication, cooperation and efficiencies within all three branches of government and provide state assistance to encourage regionalization.

Beaulieu said that while the recommendations may work for some counties, two of them just won’t work in Aroostook County.

One of the recommendations calls for increasing the number of county commissioners from three to seven. The change would be taken to a referendum vote, and if it didn’t pass, by default the number of commissioners would increase to five, Beaulieu said.

The other recommendation is to transform county finance committees into advisory entities. Those committees now give the final approval on county budgets.

Beaulieu said the first recommendation will only make Aroostook’s highly efficient government less efficient.

"If you were to increase the Legislature by 42 percent, would you have more efficiency?" he said.

Administrators blast Baldacci comments

Kennebec Journal, January 19, 2007

(excerpt) Area school officials on Thursday rejected the governor's assertions that excessive education spending was cheating property owners out of state dollars.

Gov. John Baldacci on Wednesday decried spending practices among local school administrative units as "terrible" and "unacceptable" after a report showed 81 percent of them spending more money than the amount allowed under a state formula.

Called Essential Programs and Services, the formula mandates how much schools should spend in certain areas. The formula is contained in a 2005 state law known as Legislative Document 1, or LD 1, and, coupled with increased state education spending, was said to have been aimed at putting more dollars back into the hands of local taxpayers.

Baldacci's criticism of school district spending was a cheap political stunt and an attempt to divert attention from his own failures, according to Messalonskee School Superintendent Jim Morse.

"I think Governor Baldacci has chosen in his second term to make school systems his whipping boy for the state's lack of spine to address tax reform at the state level," he said. "I think the governor's position is outrageous."

As always, click on the post title to link to the entire article.

Baldacci's education plan raises concerns
Bangor Daily News, January 18, 2007

(excerpt) Those attending a Wednesday night forum on Gov. John Baldacci's proposal to consolidate the state's school systems into 26 administrative units had a ton of questions about the plan.

The central one was whether the initiative would mean a better education for Maine students.

Losing local control, student-to-teacher ratios, who in Augusta would work on fine-tuning the bill, its fast-paced timeline, school choice, how small communities would be affected, curriculum, and where parents turn when they have a problem were other associated issues raised during the nearly two-hour session at the Brewer Auditorium.

"I'm all for saving, and consolidation sounds like a good thing, but the quality of education has to be there," Eddington resident Matt Kirkpatrick said to the gathering of 30.

Local school board members and town representatives were present to discuss the governor's proposal with Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, who hosted the event.

This article has not appeared on the Bangor Daily News web site. Nevertheless I feel it is of great local interest. We offer this (~150 word) excerpt with the hope that such use of the BDN material falls within fair use guidelines.

School restructure plan flawed
Bangor Daily News, January 18, 2007

(excerpt) But do we spend more on administration? The results are mixed. From 1999 to 2003, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, Maine averaged $65 per pupil more for administration than was the national average — about 10 percent higher. But in 2003-04, Maine’s per-pupil expenditures on administration were actually $16 less than the national average.
And do we spend more per student than the national average? Commissioner Gendron cites a single year (2004-05) when Maine was almost $2,000 above. But U.S. Department of Education data show that Maine’s average current expenditure totals between 1999 and 2004 were $1,087 above the national average. Yes, we do spend more and we have the distinction of placing second in the nation in the percent of our expenditures that go directly to "instruction and instruction-related activities."
…
The administration and the authors of last fall’s reports apparently paid little attention to these other staff and service costs. Maine consistently spends less in these other staffing areas than does the nation — $290 per student less on average between 1999 and 2003! Put another way, staff support for students and teachers in Maine schools is provided primarily by administrators, with substantially less specialized and auxiliary assistance than is present in many other states’ school districts.
The picture emerging from these facts is one of considerable administrative efficiency: We pay $65 more for administration but $290 less for other staffing and our product is better, as measured by National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores, than most every other state’s. In 2003-04, Maine’s percent of expenditures devoted to administration was actually the fourth lowest in the United States!

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Camden & Rockport would keep elementary school expansion debt under new state plan — but state-assisted school debts in area would be pooled
Camden Herald, Friday, January 12, 2007

(excerpt) Under the governor’s plan to combine Maine’s school districts into 26 large regions, none of the other towns in Knox County would have to help Camden and Rockport pay off debt on their $14.8 million expansion of Rockport Elementary School West.

However, debt on buildings that did get state funding — such as the new Medomak Valley Middle School now being built, and six-year-old Camden Hills Regional High School — would be assumed by all communities in this new district.

It is likely, though, that this large district may be more likely to receive future state funding than the existing Camden area school system is at the moment, because the new district will include more lower property value towns. This could prove beneficial to higher property value Camden and Rockport.

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Baldacci school plan has competition
Portland Press Herald, January 14, 2007

(excerpt) Gov. John Baldacci's plan to slash the state's school districts and administrators is not the only school-consolidation proposal percolating in the Legislature.

Lawmakers this session will consider at least five bills aimed at merging school districts or some of their functions. They range from Baldacci's ambitious approach, which would shift control of education spending from the local to the regional level; to less radical plans that would encourage school districts to start buying in bulk and sharing back-office functions.

The plans are sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans, who estimate they will save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year. All are aimed at reducing the amount of money spent on school administration statewide, and most would put the savings back into classrooms.

All, however, are likely to test Mainers' willingness to give up local control over their school districts.

...
The proposals include the governor's measure; a plan promoted by a coalition including the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, Maine Education Association, Maine Municipal Association, Maine Hospital Association and Maine Service Centers Coalition; a plan by state Sen. Karl Turner, R-Cumberland; a proposal based on a Maine Children's Alliance report; and a bill based on a Board of Education report. Many of the plans incorporate ideas from the Brookings Institution report on the state's long-term economic prospects, commissioned by GrowSmart Maine and released last year.
...

The coalition's measure, sponsored by state Sen. President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, attempts to hold the Legislature to a spending limit and set long-term goals for reducing the costs of government by regionalizing school districts.

The coalition proposes creating "planning alliances" for 26 school districts, based on the existing vocational school districts. The alliances would look for savings and efficiencies between school districts, such as combining financial management systems. The plan does not change the governance structure of the existing 296 school districts. Proponents estimate the measure would save $20 million to $25 million a year.

The Maine Children's Alliance plan, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, is almost identical to the coalition's plan for regional school districts. It would create funding for 26 "cooperatives," which would save money through group purchasing of books and sharing administrative functions. Participation would not be mandatory. Cost savings have not been determined.

Turner's plan looks a lot like Baldacci's and the Republican senator said he is not averse to the governor's proposal. It would create 75 school districts of about 2,200 students each, the average size of the state's highest-performing school districts. Districts would be based on proximity, common attitudes toward education and transportation needs.

Existing school boards would become advisory, and would be replaced by regional school boards. Like the governor's plan, it would be mandatory. Turner estimates it would save about $25 million dollars in administrative costs a year, which would be used for property tax relief.

The State Education Board's plan, sponsored by Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, would establish 65 school districts of about 3,000 to 4,000 students. Existing districts larger than that would remain intact. The districts would be mandatory, governed by a district-wide school board. They would be drawn up by a bipartisan panel. The Legislature would be asked to adopt or reject the new districts as a single package, to prevent political pressures from toppling the plan. Savings are estimated at $82 million over five years.

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SAD 16 blasts Baldacci's school plan
Kennebec Journal, January 12, 2007

(excerpt) According to the letter: "This is a top-down plan being pushed without any recognition of local wishes or of any steps individual districts, such as SAD 16, have made on their own to consolidate and improve administrative operating efficiencies."

SAD 16 board member Tom Austin said the governor's plan needs to be thought through more carefully, but that the SAD 16 board was afraid a review would not be allowed before legislators considered it as a budget item this year.

SAD 16 officials said the letter will be sent to Sen. Earle McCormick, R-West Gardiner, and Rep. Sharon Treat, D-Farmingdale, and possibly published in the media.

If the governor's proposal is approved, SAD 16 students would be in the same district as many other students in southern Kennebec County towns, including Augusta, Readfield, Winthrop and Chelsea, Austin said.

He said consolidating school activities is nothing new. The idea has been floating around for a while.

"We've had quite a bit of success with this," Austin said Thursday. "For example, we share a lot of the office services with Dresden, our office does all the accounting and reporting for both districts, and we share a special ed director with a number of districts.

"These are the things the governor seems to envision, but the plan is too drastic a move."

Board member Dan Shagoury worries SAD 16's cost-sharing -- such as buying oil cooperatively with the city of Hallowell, sharing services with municipalities and accepting tuition students from Dresden -- would be undone by the governor's plan.

"We've been working closely with Dresden. We have a contract with them for middle school and, now, high school students," Shagoury said. "Is that all going to be severed?"

Shagoury said he strongly believes the proposal for reorganizing the school system should be a separate bill, not buried in the state budget.

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Take note too of the comments. There's an interesting piece of citizen reporting here:

I listened carefully to Gendron's reply to Fred Bever's question about the background research done on this type of consolidation yesterday on MPR.

Her answer was a shocking revelation of no research into the many failed and some successful experiments into consolidation in the U.S.; and overwhelming reliance on the Canadian Provincial administration of public education.

Even a quick look at the organizational structure of the New Brunswick Department of Education and their way of totally paying for the operation of the schools in the nine districts, reveals a vast difference between Maine and New Brunswick's nearly socialized structure.

The province of New Brunswick totally controls nearly every aspect of education and running schools at the local level.

The districts range in size from Moncton with 16,508 students and 1,055 educators; down to Dalhousie with 3,982 students and 282 educators.
Overall enrollment in New Brunswick schools has dropped steadily over the past few decades to the current level of 120,600.

The consolidation actually began in 1967 with the elimination of counties and their replacement by the provincial government as the principal agent of local administration. Local school districts were consolidated and many functions incorporated into the Provincial department of government.

The Maine legislature would have to greatly increase the power of Gendron's department and abolish the many types of local school units--SAD
's, SAU's, CSAD's, and more importantly, school departments which are imbedded in Town Charters.

The other huge difference is that Maine's administration at the state and local level has changed dramatically with the acceptance of Federal funds in the late Sixties and up to NCLB and many other programs. There appears to be little federal presence in the education Dept. of the Province of New Brunswick.

School Board rips state proposal
Times Record, January 11, 2007

(excerpt) He warned the plan could mean a higher per-student cost for Brunswick, possible budget cuts that would affect teaching staff, and a potential clash of educational philosophies between Brunswick, Freeport and the towns of School Administrative District 75 that would share one administrative office and one school board under the proposed plan.

"I hope everyone listening knows that local doesn't mean what local means for us today," Ashe said.

Ashe also criticized the governor and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron for producing a plan that glossed over the loss of more than 600 teachers, hundreds of jobs for administrative office staff and the educational impact of superintendents.

Handing out copies of Gendron's Power Point presentation promoting the plan, Ashe said, "To me, this a political sell job right here."

School Board members, in keeping with Ashe's comments, also criticized the plan for proposing to relinquish control of Brunswick schools to a regional board and jeopardizing a system they've worked to make economical and educationally effective.

"To lose our local control," board member Corinne Perreault said, "I think it would be devastating for us at this time when we're looking for a lot of new people to be moving to our community (with the expected closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station)."

School Board member Bob Morrison, reading a prepared statement, called the plan "totalitarian," asserting a difference between schools and factories and how they should be run.

Board member Dugan Slovenski asked if Gendron was proposing similar cuts to her own administrative staff, and vice chairwoman Eileen Murphy urged residents to contact their legislative representatives to express their opinion about the plan.

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State: Plan will save money
Piscataquis Observer, January 10, 2007

(excerpts) "I am skeptical of the cost savings," Union 60 Superintendent Heather Perry said Monday. "Perhaps there won't be superintendents' salaries, but there will be more spent in middle management," she added. Canada just implemented a similar concept and ended up spending more money, not less, she stated.

Paul Stearns, SAD 4 superintendent, echoed Perry's thoughts.

"Central office administrators wear many hats," Stearns said, adding that he had been behind the wheel of a school bus until 12:30 p.m. on Monday. How could the superintendent of such an enormous district step into that role when needed, he questioned.
...
"A lot of us serve different roles, such as business manager and personnel manager. Who is going to do all that work?" SAD 68 Superintendent John Dirnbauer asked.
...
"My first thought this morning is how do you call off school with such a large district, said Kevin Jordan, superintendent of SAD 46, on Monday, when it was snowing in Greenville, a mix in Dover-Foxcroft, and rain in Newport.
...
"I'n nervous about governance. The governor is saying that he is not going to close schools, but down the line (if that philosophy changes), what kind of clout will Greenville have in such a large district?" Perry asked.

This article is not available electronically. We offer this (~210 word) excerpt in the belief that such use falls within fair use guidelines. Buy the paper and read it all!

Towns may be offered schools
Bangor Daily News, January 10, 2007

(excerpt) School officials had planned to meet with state education officials last month to discuss the project but the meeting was postponed. That move delayed the planned Jan. 4 public hearing and straw vote on the project.

Scott Brown, the Department of Education's director of school facilities projects, said his office believes a little more time should be spent on the project review. "We move ahead when we're ready to move ahead," he said Tuesday.

Brown said his office wanted to tighten up the programming and revisit the special education component to make sure it was the right proposal. Discussions on the project are expected to continue between the state construction committee and Jordan today in Augusta.

"We're ready to go on our end," Jordan said.

This article has not appeared on the Bangor Daily News web site. Nevertheless I feel it is of great local interest.We offer this (~125 word) excerpt with the hope that such use of the BDN material falls within fair use guidelines.

In classes, size matters
Bangor Daily News, January 10, 2007

(excerpt) I realize that the editors of the Bangor Daily News have not had much time to reflect upon or analyze Gov. Baldacci’s proposed 2007 state budget, but Todd Benoit begins this process in his "Maiden Maine" commentary over the weekend (Jan. 6-7). For that public service, I thank him. However, I must disagree with the way in which he frames the educational problem in that proposed budget.

Mr. Benoit notes that the largest "school savings" in the budget involve raising class size from 15 students per teacher to 17:

"The saved state money [$130 million a year] would go toward buying technology for Maine schools and lowering college tuition. It allows the governor to present this question: Would you prefer computer equipment for high school students and affordable college rates or would you rather continue to pay for an excess of administrators?"

This statement strikes me as illogical, at best. For raising class size will not affect administration; it will affect only teachers and students. I suspect that what lies behind this proposal is the Department of Education’s notion that any class that does not have a state-mandated number of students is not viable and thus cannot be offered. If that class is not offered, then the teacher who was going to teach it can be used elsewhere in the system or let go. This must be how Gov. Baldacci plans to save that $130 million, by redistributing staff and firing teachers. Is this what Mr. Benoit means when he praises the governor’s tax cut "that puts services in human terms"?

Click on the title above to link to the whole article!

The Todd Benoit column referred to in Mr. Murphy's article is available here.

School district plan detailed
Bangor Daily News, January 9, 2006

(excerpt) Commissioner of Education Susan A. Gendron on Monday offered more details of the sweeping proposal which she said offers the best chance to shift resources from administration to the classroom. The Local Schools, Regional Support Initiative calls for reducing the number of school administrative systems from 152 to 26, a move that will save taxpayers $250 million over its first three years, according to Gendron.

"We are talking about shifting resources from central office administration to the classroom to achieve excellence in education for every student in every classroom in every local school," she said.

Gendron outlined the proposal, which is included in Gov. John Baldacci’s $6.4 billion budget for 2007-09, during a press briefing at the Cabinet Room on Monday.

She said the savings in administrative costs would be used to expand the laptop program into the high schools, create college scholarship funds for low-income high school graduates, increase professional development for teachers, and place a full-time principal in every school.

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Some ideas for Bangor School Committee
Bangor Daily News, January 8, 2007

(excerpt) The contentious debate about the recent Bangor School Committee election is indicative, we believe, of deeper pent-up frustration with the general modus operandi of this committee.

We would like to move beyond recrimination and offer some constructive suggestions that, if adopted, might go a long way toward restoring public confidence and giving the public a more complete and accurate picture of the quality of our schools.

Contact information:The city of Bangor Web site lists each member of the City Council by name with a color photo, a brief biographical sketch, the year of term expiration, an e-mail address and a phone number. The School Committee, which is, like the council, an elected body, should do likewise. A statement along the lines of "Please contact one or more members of the School Committee with your questions, comments, or concerns" should be included. At present, the only online information about the School Committee is a list of the names of its members.

Web site, agenda reports:The agenda of each meeting should be posted on the school department Web site at least 72 hours before each meeting. The agenda should include a brief synopsis of each agenda item. (At the last meeting the agenda had not been posted at noon on the day of the meeting.) All reports given to the board members before the meeting should also be posted accordingly.

Public comment: At present, the School Committee reserves a few minutes at the beginning of its meetings for public comment. The City Council, on the other hand, solicits public comment on each agenda item (other than routine housekeeping matters) as it is being considered. The School Committee, which oversees a $38 million budget funded by tax monies, should do likewise.

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Mixed reviews for school proposal
Portland Press Herald, January 5, 2007

(excerpt) In a move designed to reshape how Maine's schools are run, Gov. John Baldacci will ask the Legislature to slash the number of districts from 290 to 26 and assign one superintendent to each, saving a projected $250 million over three years without closing any schools.

The sweeping administrative consolidation, which would eliminate the jobs of most of the 152 superintendents who oversee the state's public school system, is being greeted with expressions of support, concern and exasperation from lawmakers and education groups.

Baldacci touched on the proposal in his inaugural address Wednesday night. The administration plans to release more details when it unveils its proposed two-year budget today. But state Education Commissioner Sue Gendron said in an interview Thursday that the proposal would improve the quality of education, cut costs and streamline the bureaucracy without cutting the number of schools.

"We have a very costly administrative structure" in Maine that should be reworked to save money and ensure greater consistency in implementing the state's education standards, Gendron said. She said Baldacci wants to implement the plan within the next two years, suggesting that he will ask the Legislature to make the consolidation mandatory, not discretionary.

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Baldacci should step back from the edge
Kennebec Journal, January 5, 2007

(excerpt) It's not pretty to watch someone jump off a cliff. Yet that's just how we feel watching Gov. John Baldacci race headlong toward the economic and political brink as he stubbornly pushes his plan to limit property taxes on Mainers' homes.

We're happy to see such determination from the governor on this crucial issue. But it will be wasted if it isn't applied to a better idea.

The plan would limit assessment increases on primary homes. In short, L.D. 2 allows the governor to tell Maine taxpayers that he's working hard to limit the taxes they've so loudly proclaimed they hate. It's a bad idea that constitutes a cheap fix to a problem that needs a much more thoughtful -- and less political -- response. What L.D. 2 would really do is create an unequal property tax burden among taxpayers, where the owners of one home on a block who have been there for 20 years pay substantially less in taxes than the family that this year bought the identical house next door to them. It will diminish municipal revenues -- unless, of course, towns decide to undo its effects by simply raising the tax rate. And it will shift the tax burden to commercial property owners -- a disincentive to business investment that this state can ill afford.

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SAT Headed for Approval?
Ellsworth American, January 5, 2007

(excerpt) Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron may develop a serious case of arm strain from patting herself on the back. To hear Gendron tell it, the likelihood that U.S. Department of Education officials will approve Maine’s use of the SAT as its primary tool for assessing 11th-grade students is nothing short of a glorious achievement for the state. Though it’s not yet a done deal, Gendron announced this week that final approval is expected before the end of the current school year.

Throwing around phrases such as “ground-breaking” and “charting new territory” to describe the use of the SAT as the grade 11 assessment, Gendron said the “approval pending” designation by the feds “validates the work the state is doing with respect to its assessment system.” The lifting of Maine’s “non-approved” status also ends the federal hold placed on a portion of Maine’s Title I administrative funds that otherwise would be used for technical assistance to schools not meeting the federal “No Child Left Behind” standards.

Like many educators around the state, we do not share Gendron’s enthusiasm for the SAT as a tool to measure general student attainment. Nor do we find the fact that the U.S. Department of Education may now reverse its position after first rejecting use of the SAT especially reassuring. Statistics show that one-fourth of Maine juniors have not been taking the SAT and have no intention of pursuing additional years of education at a college or university. Readiness for college, which is what the SAT measures, is not, and should not be, the primary measure by which the adequacy of a student’s high school education is judged.

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Keeping at-risk kids in school requires programs, not rhetoric
AP (Boston.com), January 1, 2007

(excerpt) A recent study on high school dropouts funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found students' reasons for dropping out vary widely. Gifted students drop out because they're bored, while girls often drop out if they get pregnant. Others get tangled in drug use and drinking. One-third say "failing in school" was a major factor.

"For almost all young people, dropping out of high school is not a sudden act, but a gradual process of disengagement," the report concluded. It said most students come to regret the decision.

Five years ago, Franklin High had one of the highest dropout rates in the state, with about 16 percent of students leaving in one year. But a concerted effort and a variety of programs have brought the rate down to about 2 percent.

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Trying to Find Solutions in Chaotic Middle Schools
New York Times, January 3, 2007

excerpt) Middle schools, sometimes called intermediate schools, were created starting in the 1960s, after educators determined that seventh-through-ninth-grade junior high schools were excessively rigid and unattuned to adolescents’ personal development. But now, a battery of standardized tests, some required under the No Child Left Behind law, are starkly illustrating that many of these sixth-through-eighth-grade schools are failing, also.

The most recent results of math and reading tests given to students in all 50 states showed that between 1999 and 2004, elementary school students made solid gains in reading and math, while middle school students made smaller gains in math and stagnated in reading.

In New York State, grade-by-grade testing conducted for the first time last year showed that in rich and poor districts alike, reading scores plunge from the fifth to sixth grade, when most students move to middle school, and continue to decline through eighth grade. The pattern is increasingly seen as a critical impediment to tackling early high school dropout rates as well as the achievement gap separating black and white students.

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Panel: Revamp U.S. high schools
Chicago Tribune, December 15, 2006

(excerpt) Most high school students could leave after their sophomore year and go to community college or vocational training under a proposal endorsed by a prestigious panel on Thursday.

The report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce touches on all aspects of education, but some of its most unusual proposals would end America's four-year high school and replace it with a more European-style model.

The plan is one of the most expansive educational proposals to surface at a time when federal officials are encouraging experimentation in the nation's school districts to help boost high school graduation rates and help Americans better compete with foreign workers. Unlike many education reports, this one is supported by several respected education leaders, including former U.S. Secretaries of Education Richard W. Riley and Roderick Paige. Riley served a Democrat; Paige served a Republican.

Rather than requiring students to remain in high school for four years, the report proposes a rigorous 10th-grade test that would allow those who pass to leave school two years early, which proponents say could help reduce the dropout rate, among other positive effects. They could then go on to technical or vocational training or academic work in preparation for a four-year institution.

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Baldacci likely to use budget as leverage for district consolidation
Times Record, January 2, 2007

(excerpt) Despite the lack of official details, many expect Baldacci to use the two-year state budget — which will contain close to $2 billion in state aid for education — to either force school districts to consolidate administrative functions with their neighbors or pay for their independence on the local level.

Several high-profile reports, including ones from the national Brookings Institution, the Maine Children's Alliance and the Maine Board of Education, are calling for fewer school districts in the state to save money.

"I'm really not privy to what he has in his budget," said Sen. Libby Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, the new Senate majority leader and last year's chairwoman of the Education Committee. "I do know he's interested in reducing the cost of administration.

"We've dealt with this issue over the years, but people have chosen to continue to operate the way they are," she said. "They want their local school boards."

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