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.
(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.
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