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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