Teacher ratio proposal pulled from education reform bill

Associated Press, February 28, 2007

(excerpt) The Baldacci administration is withdrawing its proposal to increase the state´s student-teacher ratio _ and to eliminate funding for 650 teachers _ as part of his school reform package designed to slash costs.

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said the administration dropped the provision that would reduce funding for teachers because Mainers opposed the concept.

"It became clear in meeting people throughout the state that they were concerned (that) a cut in funding allocation for teaching would result in loss of art, Advanced Placement classes and other areas," Gendron said in a statement.

Schools panel back to work

Morning Sentinel, February 28, 2007

(excerpt) It appears middle and high school class sizes won't increase as Gov. John Baldacci's budget would have required. But it's going to cost high school students their promised new laptops.

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron told the Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee Tuesday the governor's proposal to increase middle and high school class sizes has been withdrawn. The class size change was expected to result in about 650 teaching positions being cut.

Now that those cuts are not going to be made, the state has to look elsewhere to recover the $12.5 million a year they expected to save.

Prominent among the programs to be cut is a proposed expansion of the state's laptop program that would provide laptop computers to all Maine high school students.

Gendron said planned expansion has been dropped. So have plans to fund more scholarships for high school graduates to attend the University of Maine, the Maine Community College System or Maine Maritime Academy.

Thorndike school construction a go

Morning Sentinel, February 21, 2007

(excerpts) "This is huge for the district and huge for the kids of the district and the communities," she said. "People have been waiting and waiting and soon they'll be seeing construction vehicles up there."

The contract includes $455,000 for a wood chip-fired boiler, about $500,000 of upgrades to the auditorium, which will be paid by the fundraising committee Future MSAD 3, and variable air volume boxes, which will be installed in classrooms to help save energy.

Other side projects, such as a snow melting system, metal fencing around the athletic fields and extra storage cabinets, will be discussed at the next building committee meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 28.

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District voters approved more than $40.3 million for the new school in September 2005. The local portion of that tab was not to exceed $184,422, not including $500,000 in gift money that the district is allowed to receive. The state agreed to pay up to $39.5 million.

State panel OKs SAD 46 proposal

Bangor Daily News, February 22, 2007

(excerpt) In response to questions from the board, the design team from Portland-based Stephen Blatt Architects said the wood boiler would be similar to those used in Vermont schools. As part of their training, trucking students at a technical center would be used to deliver the wood chips to the school.

Jordan said the decision to consolidate the elementary and middle schools came about after the district was unable to find a good match for a consolidated high school. He noted that Exeter and Garland were "kind of bedroom communities for Bangor," and increasing in population.

While he acknowledged that "there’s still a small faction of people that like that little school for their community," Jordan said that in the end the major selling point of a consolidated school was a promise of equity for every community.

"We spent a lot of time making sure that whatever was offered at Dexter was offered to everyone," Jordan said. "It was the best choice for us to do, building a school for the whole community. … We know in the long run that all our children will be treated equally."

Changes likely for Baldacci school plan

Bangor Daily News, February 19, 2007

(excerpt) Gov. John Baldacci’s plan to reduce school administrative districts from 296 to 26 does not have the political support to pass as is, but there is strong and bipartisan support to reduce the costs of school administration.

Both Baldacci and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron have said they do not expect the final legislation will be what they proposed.

But Baldacci said in an interview that he expects lawmakers will want to make adjustments based on what he has heard at meetings across the state and that he is willing to compromise.

Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, who also serves on the Legislature’s Education Committee, said, "People are concerned and they want to do something. Will it pass as proposed? No, and that is not unusual. The Legislature likes to put its stamp on things."

She said lawmakers and the public agree that Maine is spending too much for education administration and that more money needs to go to classroom instruction.

She said 152 superintendents are too many, but maybe 26 are too few.

Wyke: How to handle the state's single largest expenditure

Bangor Daily News, February 17, 2007

(excerpts) The promise of the citizen-initiated legislation requiring an increase in the state’s share of local education was a corresponding relief in the burden borne by the local property tax. Yet, 81 percent of school administrative units exceeded their growth limits for the 2006-07 school year. Every other level of government in Maine — the state, the counties and the municipalities — managed expenses under their respective spending caps. But local education expenditures continued to increase, even as student enrollments continued to decline.

The governor’s Local Schools, Regional Support initiative and new education funding in the two-year budget hold the promise for local property tax relief. The budget includes $178 million of new aid, and streamlined K-12 administration will save local and state government $241 million over three years.

The governor is not asking school administration to do anything the state isn’t already doing for the programs it administers directly. State government adopted its first spending cap in 2003 and has remained under it even while increasing aid to K-12 education. In fact, if local education spending were removed from the budget, remaining state spending actually experienced negative growth last year.

...

The current level of spending on the general fund is unsustainable. We must harness efficiencies in all state programs in order to bring that spending in line with resources. Curbing spending in the programs state government directly administers is occurring, but it is not enough. We must address the major cost drivers, including aid to local education.

Nutting: Cut fat before schools

Kennebec Journal, February 14, 2007

(excerpt) Sen. John Nutting thinks the Baldacci administration should cut state bureaucracy before asking schools to cut administrative costs.

"To me, they have not done enough," said Nutting, a Leeds Democrat and farmer who's served 12 years in the Legislature.

So Nutting has introduced a measure requiring state government administration to be cut by $30 million.

The bill, which has yet to be released from the Legislature's bill writing office, reflects some of the frustration from citizens since the governor announced his proposal to reduce the number of school districts from 290 to 26. Some of those who spoke at last week's public hearing on the proposal said the state should lead by example and cut its spending first.

But Gov. John Baldacci's chief financial officer said the state has made cuts in recent years, and challenged Nutting's assertion that there's room to slash another $30 million in administrative costs.

Rebecca Wyke, commissioner of the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services, said the governor has cut $11 million in administrative costs and proposes more in the current budget.

"What we're asking schools to do is nothing we haven't done here ourselves," she said.

School systems anxious to get state figures

Capital Weekly, February 15, 2007

(excerpt) Remember that 1980's expression, where's the beef?

Well, that's what superintendents and school committees across Maine are asking as they wait for state school funding figures that are at least two weeks late and probably won't be out for another 10 to 14 days.

The lag means school systems can't plan their budgets for the coming year — budgets that in some cases are due at the end of March or in time for March town meetings.

"The (education) commissioner has yet to release the 2007-2008 subsidy estimates based on her funding level and the governor's budget," Dale Douglass, executive director of the Maine School Management Association, said Sunday.

"We want those figures so people can do their budgets," he said.

Usually the estimates come out by the end of January, with the understanding that they might go up or down depending upon the Legislature's final budget figures.

Multer: Local school control has limits

Bangor Daily News, February 15, 2007

(excerpt) Local control has long been a slogan in Maine. "We are a local control state" is part of the gospel of Maine. "That will destroy local control," some say when they want to kill an education-related proposal. In fact, the term "local control" is used primarily to defeat rather than to support. All too often, "local control" is used to hammer down anything that is seen to threaten the power of the state’s 290 school boards and the 152 superintendents they employ.

In the beginning, schooling was indeed, local. It was paid for and run entirely by local residents. They hired the teacher and oversaw the curriculum. And why not? The students were local boys and girls who, in all likelihood, would stay in or near the community as they matured, marrying and raising their own families in the same locale.

Baldacci Wants To Merge 2 State Departments

Morning Sentinel, February 13, 2007

(excerpt) Gov. John Baldacci's plan to merge two state departments and create a new Maine Department of Commerce holds a lot of symbolic value for the governor. While fighting to press school districts to consolidate, he can show that he's putting the consolidation squeeze on state agencies, too.

But some worry that the merger of the departments of Economic and Community Development and Professional and Financial Regulation will create a conflict of interest without providing real savings.

The two departments have very different missions. One promotes the state's business climate. The other protects Maine consumers.

"One is growth and one is regulation, and they serve different masters," said Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-South Portland, co-chair of the Legislature's Insurance and Financial Services Committee. "They are two separate functions. They need to be held in tension."

Bromley added that she doesn't see how the merger could deliver any substantial savings.

Hike! SAD 3 OKs football

Morning Sentinel, February 13, 2007

(excerpt) The Mount View High School football team will play a varsity schedule next year for the first time in the school's history.

The School Administrative District 3 Board of Directors on Monday voted by a 7-2 margin in favor of making football a varsity sport for the 2007 season. The vote also approved football at the junior high school.

Russell Lord and Sheldon McCormick opposed the decision while vice-chairwoman Andrea Stark abstained from the vote.

The Maine Principals Association last month approved the district's application to join the Eastern Maine Class C varsity schedule.

"I'm just very excited," said Ron Simmons, the head football coach. "I'm excited about the board's decision. I think it was the right decision for the district."

The board now must grapple with how much money to give to the fledgling program. High school principal Lynda Letteney, who helped guide the program through the club sport season completed last fall, asked the board for $33,730, $23,830 of which would go toward the varsity program and another $9,900 for the junior high team.

Broad Voucher Plan Is Approved in Utah

New York Times, February 11, 2007

(excerpt) The Utah State Legislature approved one of the broadest school voucher programs in the nation on Friday, allotting up to $3,000 for any public school student to put toward private school tuition.

Voucher programs in the handful of other states that have them are generally intended for poor families or students attending schools that have poor academic records. There will be no such restrictions in Utah, which has the largest class sizes in the country and until now has spent less per student than any other state.

The Senate approved the bill 19 to 10 on Friday, a week after the House endorsed it by a single vote, 38 to 37. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a Republican whose children attend public schools, has said he will sign the bill into law.

The vouchers will be open to all of the state’s 512,000 public school students. The amount will depend on family income, but even wealthy families would be eligible for at least $500 per child. Students already in private schools would not be eligible.

Gouldsboro Gets Break On New School Costs

Ellsworth American, February 8, 2007

(excerpts) Maine’s funding formula for construction of new public schools will spare taxpayers in Gouldsboro from sharing in the direct cost of building a new, $12-million School Union 96 elementary school.

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Their primary concern is the size of school’s gymnasium. The state will fund construction of a gymnasium with a 42-by-74-foot court surface with 5-foot sidelines and enough area for bleachers to seat half the student body. That’s considerably smaller than the existing Winter Harbor gymnasium now used by the Peninsula School for basketball games and other events, which sometimes attract overflow crowds.

The School Board agreed Tuesday to provide an additional $200,000 in local funding to increase the dimensions of the gymnasium to accommodate bleacher seating for 300. Those funds will either come from property taxes or donations to an ongoing fund-raising effort, or some blend of both funding sources.

“Scott Brown, the construction coordinator for the Department of Education, tells me that virtually every school construction project has additional local money for a larger gymnasium,” School Union 96 Superintendent Bill Webster told the School Board.

Another concern is parking. The site plan approved by the state Department of Education calls for a 57-space parking lot to accommodate school staff and a few visitors. Any additional parking would need to be funded locally, either through property taxes, private donations or some blend of both.

A fund-raising letter will be mailed next week to all property owners in Gouldsboro and Winter Harbor. The New Peninsula School Fundraising Committee has set a goal of $500,000 to cover costs not funded by the state.

“State aid does not cover a long list of fixture needs and program enhancements,” the letter reads in part. “[They] include but are not limited to furniture, additional bleacher seating, portable risers for performances, playground equipment, additional library books, musical equipment and multi-media equipment, including computers and audio-visual equipment. Money for these items will need to be raised locally.”

SAD 3 architects negotiating with contractor

Bangor Daily News, February 8, 2007

(excerpts) Despite the frigid temperatures this week, groundbreaking for the building that will replace SAD 3's Mount View Complex could begin in he coming weeks.
...
The wood chip boiler, which was included in the specifications at the insistence of board members who wanted to see an energy-efficient "green" building, is projected to cost $455,000.
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The state has committed to providing $40 million for the project, which means the construction will have no impact on local property taxes, though higher operational costs are likely.
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Lemire said both SAD 3 and JCN are eager to begin work.

They really want to start this month," he said.

Mr. Baldacci: Why Not Trim State Gov’t Fat?

Ellsworth American, February 1, 2007

(excerpt) According to a report by University of Maine professor Philip Trostel, whose analysis contributed to the Brookings Institution report, several areas of state government appear ripe for further investigation because of how much they cost in comparison to other states.

The list includes:

• The administration of higher education, where for every $1 going to instructional payroll in Maine, $2.13 goes to “other” payroll to support 14 separate universities and community colleges.

• A corrections system that serves a state with the smallest number of prisoners per capita in the county yet spends $62,200 per inmate annually, the second highest cost per prisoner in the nation. If Maine had the same cost per inmate as the national average, it could save $79 million annually.

• Legislative costs, including research and support staff who report to legislators, that are the third highest in the nation as a percentage of personal income in the state. If Maine spent like other rural states it could save $12 million annually.

• Maine’s public health expenditures, excluding hospitals, which are the second highest in the country relative to the state’s income. Public health includes a wide range of functions from health education, immunization and drug and alcohol abuse programs. Both the state and local government administer programs in this area.

• Spending on public buildings, including their construction, maintenance and operation, that far exceeds national averages and spending in other rural states as a percentage of personal income. If Maine spent at the national average, the state could save $42 million annually or close to half of the public buildings budget.

Mixed results so far for LD 1

Bar Harbor Times, January 30, 2007

(excerpt) The vast majority of schools, meanwhile, missed the goals of LD 1, which uses the Essential Programs and Services model of school funding to set targets for the amount of property taxes raised for local education; even though school funding from the state increased by $78 million last year, 81 percent of schools exceeded their EPS limit, by an average of 7.5 percent; locally, that excess was much higher, with MDI schools going over the EPS by anywhere from 35 to 74 percent. But, as Union 98 Superintendent of Schools Rob Liebow notes, that additional spending was, like the Bar Harbor town budget, approved by voters.

“It’s a democratic prerogative of the people,” Mr. Liebow says. “If they want kids to meet Learning Results requirements, for them to have extensive extracurricular programs, smaller classes, salaries that will keep teachers, good upkeep of the schools, then they are going to go over on spending. But voters do have the right to choose; raising additional money is not being shoved down their throats.” Mr. Liebow adds that the number of mills for education — the dollars per thousand dollars of a property’s valuation that go to taxes — is below the state average here; local schools all rank in the bottom 15 to 20 percent for mills going to education.

Labbe & Brinkley: School reform risks loss of community to region

Bangor Daily News, February 7, 2007

(excerpt) For this diversity to be respected, communities of comparable size should be linked together. Towns should not be lost in school districts that are dominated by urban centers like Bangor, Lewiston or Portland. Fiscal management should be so designed that individual communities can fund the kinds of innovation in which Hermon and other towns have taken the lead, and they need to be able to innovate without asking permission from the region as a whole or the electorate of the region as a whole. The Department of Education’s work should never be defined by hierarchical bureaucratic management but by facilitation among the regions and, where appropriate, within the regions.

We often think of ways to balance the private and public sectors in our society, but the balance between these sectors can only be provided by communities of active citizens whose interests both the private and public sectors exist to serve.

If regionalization leads to a kind of centralization that only gives more authority to Augusta through a regional bureaucracy, regionalization is a bad idea that should be opposed. If regionalization leads to networks of empowered communities that foster economic and cultural prosperity for the people of Maine, then regionalization can be a good idea that should be supported because the money saved (money that needs to be saved) will also be well-spent.

Harmony's heart is its school

Morning Sentinel, February 6, 2007

(excerpt) The people of Harmony say they already know how to stretch a dollar when it comes to education spending.

The town of 800 runs its own school department and has one school -- the K-8 Harmony Elementary. Its principal also serves as superintendent and special education director.

Last year, voters opted to cut costs by recognizing Dexter Regional High School as the town's official secondary school. Although more Harmony students attend Foxcroft Academy than Dexter, state law allows the town to pay Foxcroft the $6,810 Dexter cost per student rather than $8,379, because of the official designation.

People who live and work in Harmony say they are skeptical of Gov. John E. Baldacci's plan to reduce the number of school districts from 290 to 26. They say they don't believe consolidation will necessarily stop with the stated goal of reducing administrative costs.

Local input at heart of issue, Mainers say

Kennebec Journal, February 6, 2007

(excerpts) "A disaster -- that's where we're headed," said Dwight Tibbetts, chairman of the School Union 133 School Board and a band leader and music teacher in Augusta Schools. "We need some common sense here."
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"No one from the Department of Education has asked financial people in schools for any input, and we do this every day," said James Jurdak, of Oakland, business manager for Augusta Schools.
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"The mega-districts will vote to close small schools to save money," said Robert Beal, a retired educator from Beals Island who spoke with a thick Maine accent. "The smaller towns would not have a vote. This is taxation without representation. People are proud of their schools and most are willing to pay to support them. Let's not balance the budget on the backs of our school children."

Struggle for control

Morning Sentinel, February 6, 2007

(excerpt) China School Committee member Judy Stone said she supports regional consolidation, yet opposes the governor's approach.

"On a larger scale, the governor's plan reduces school districts to an absurdly low number, with the end result that the 26 superintendents and boards could not possibly adequately supervise all of Maine's schools," Stone said. "And bloated middle-level bureaucracies will almost certainly be the result."

Hampden Academy junior Harvey Shue raised questions about the wisdom of making such a dramatic cut in the number of school districts.

He asked whether students would be represented on the new regional school boards, and whether those boards would have time to hear from students.

Frigid weather costly to Hartland school

Kennebec Journal, February 6, 2007

(excerpt) Somerset Valley Middle School students were expected to return to class today after a broken water pipe forced the cancellation of classes on Monday.

A malfunction in the an air handling unit caused a water pipe to freeze and burst open, said William Braun, superintendent of School Administrative District 48. Water destroyed part of the ceiling, took the school's fire suppression equipment off line and soaked the carpeting.

Benoit: Shrink-to-fit school districts

Bangor Daily News, February 3, 2007

(excerpt) Merely opposing Gov. John Baldacci’s plan to consolidate school districts in the face of declining enrollment is not nearly enough. A defense of the status quo must explain why Maine still requires the system-level administration it had when nearly 25 percent more students were in school. Certainly the distribution of these lost students means that reform must be more than just cutting the administration to match a ratio from a quarter century ago, but just as certainly there is a chance here for significant savings. And didn’t 27 years of the computer revolution help administration at all?(excerpt)

Opponents also should tell taxpayers why spending more money for fewer students, a habit that has lifted Maine in the national ranks of the most expensive K-12 systems, is worth continuing at the risk of further divisive and harmful tax referendums. And they must do it while sidestepping this embarrassing twist: Under Maine’s current pricey school system (though not because of teacher salaries), its scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress have been falling since 1998. Back then, the NAEP math rankings for Maine’s fourth- and eighth-graders were third and first, respectively; in 2005, they were 20th and 36th. Maine students experienced a similar drop in reading.

Board OK with 4 general ideas of debated plan

Kennebec Journal, February 2, 2007

(excerpts) Members of the state Board of Education agreed Thursday to broad concepts regarding the consolidation of school administration, including the July 1, 2008, deadline set by Gov. John Baldacci.

The board convened a special meeting in the Cross State Office Building to talk about Baldacci's plan and others that will be considered Monday at a legislative public hearing. The board, which has its own consolidation bill sponsored by Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, wanted to agree to a set of recommendations to pass on to lawmakers, Chairman James Carignan said.

"We're trying to, at the concept level, advance ideas we feel strongly about in our proposal and the governor's, and keep open the possibility of compromise," he said.

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Rather than nail down specifics, the board members laid out four concepts that they value as the process moves forward:

• They support "major and significant" administrative consolidation. They did not specify the number of districts.
• They want to honor the timeline of July 1, 2008.
• They support making sure some of the money saved goes back to students by expansion of the laptop program through high school and in the form of scholarships to pay for post-secondary education for needy students.
• They want local advisory boards to have a voice in decisions made by the regional school board.

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Board member Jean Gulliver said she's heard complaints from people in southern Maine about the size of the proposed districts. The district that includes Portland would have nearly 20,000 students, while the one based in Lincoln would have 3,400.

"I think people in Portland are struggling to understand how that could be run by one superintendent," she said.

While some board members debated the size of the proposed new districts, they were unanimous in their support of the July 2008 deadline for action.

"If it doesn't have this kind of steam-ahead timetable, I don't think we'll see it at all," said board member Elinor Multer.

John Nutting: School funding plan unfair

Bangor Daily News, February 2, 2007

(excerpt) On Jan. 17, Gov. Baldacci still couldn’t figure out why all the school districts didn’t come in under the LD1 spending caps! Our governor still cannot understand why so many rural Mainers haven’t seen any property tax relief. The answer is simple: His Essential Programs and Services school funding formula, which he pulled out all the stops to pass, is unfair to rural Maine.

Maine’s previous school-funding formulas didn’t give the 100 or more property-wealthiest districts any increase in funding, as they were already spending above the state average on a mill rate effort well below the state average. Yet Gov. Baldacci’s EPS formula puts more than $50 million into the property-wealthiest areas of the state while abandoning rural Maine. It truly is an urban formula for a rural state.

The net effect of Gov. Baldacci’s EPS formula awards districts that have the lowest mill rate effort for education even more property tax relief. Meanwhile, the rural areas of Maine that have the highest educational mill rate effort do not receive enough funding increase to cover their oil bills. Even in its second year — when the legislature froze the special education percentages — the wealthiest, most populated districts continued to gain millions.

Sadly, for the first time in Maine history, the property-wealthiest one-third of Maine school districts fund their whole school budget on five mills, while the property-poor districts now have to raise 15 mills. This inequity places rural Maine at a competitive disadvantage, a situation that the Brooking Institute report says cannot continue.

The small community of Wales was approved merely five years ago to construct a new kindergarten through eighth grade school that housed 200 students. For the first three years, the state paid for the schools operating expenses, but now under EPS the state only pays for one-quarter of the salaries for the principal, guidance counselor, nurse and other positions because the new school is "inefficient" and too small. Wales’ mill rate effort for education is now one of the highest in the state at 17.

One bill for all plans

Kennebec Journal, February 1, 2007

(excerpt) None of the several bills proposing to consolidate school administration to cut costs is likely to make it to the full Legislature, local legislators told school and city officials Wednesday.

Instead, what is likely to emerge from the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee for the full Legislature to consider is a single bill combining pieces of the other bills, Gov. John Baldacci's proposal included, into a single bill from the committee.

"The Education Committee is going to take the best of all these ideas and bring a bill forward," said Rep. Kim Silsby, D-Augusta, sponsor of one of six bills proposing to consolidate school administration in Maine. "Report after report after report is saying this is what we need to do. The talk is not if, it's how."

What was originally scheduled as a public "listening session," of the Augusta legislative delegation at Cony High School on Wednesday turned into a discussion between legislators and local school and city officials because those are the only people who showed up. Each of the 11 attendees was affiliated either with the legislature, a local school, or the city of Augusta.

So they sat down together to debate and discuss the merits and hazards of consolidating school administration and what may emerge from this legislative session.

"My hope is you don't get out of this session without a solution in place," said Augusta Mayor Roger Katz. "There is a natural resistance from local school boards and superintendents who have a stake in the status quo. If you can figure out a way to save money without giving up some local control, you ought to get the Nobel Peace Prize."