Bill to make teachers state workers goes to task force

Kennebec Journal, March 29, 2007

(excerpt) The Education Committee voted to create a commission Wednesday to study making all Maine public school teachers state employees.

A resolve to create a commission and give it two years to study and report on the possibility of making teachers state employees received a 6-2 "ought to pass" endorsement by the panel.

Sponsor Rep. Randy Hotham, R-Dixfield, said if the state, not local schools, paid teachers salaries and benefits, it would greatly relieve the local property tax burden. Making teachers employees of the state could also free up local school boards to concentrate on core educational issues, rather than contract and other employment issues with teachers. The move also would make it easier to create parity in teacher pay and maybe even make it easier for some parts of the state to attract and keep quality teachers, Hotham says.

"It would seem it could be a tremendous burden taken off the local property tax rolls," Hotham said. "I don't mean to take any local control away."

Issues the commission would be expected to examine, according to the text of the bill, include creating parity in pay, health-care and retirement benefits between teachers and state workers; the possibility of the state paying salaries and benefits of teachers, and identifying a source of funding to do so; addressing the shortage of teachers in some geographic areas, in some subject areas; and exploring property tax savings.

Reduced school funding decried

Morning Sentinel, March 29, 2007

(excerpt) School superintendents used words such as "devastating" and "depressing" Wednesday to describe the likely impact of state funding to schools for 2007-08.

The state Department of Education on Tuesday issued a list of estimated state aid to schools -- preliminary figures superintendents need to build their budgets.

"I think the climate in terms of budgets right now is as bad as I've ever seen it," School Administrative District 47 Superintendent James C. Morse Sr. said Wednesday. "I think the governor's tone has been so negative toward education; it's really permeating the local communities."

Gov. John E. Baldacci has proposed consolidating school districts and reducing the number of superintendents in the state.

Each year, the state issues preliminary funding figures to schools and then later in the spring, final figures.

The preliminary estimates issued Tuesday present two scenarios: The first is what schools will get according to the governor's revised budget consistent with Essential Programs and Services share phase-in requirements; the second scenario is what the schools would get if the state Legislature chooses to revise the Essential Programs and Services state share requirements or make other changes in response to the global state budget figure.

According to the list, SAD 47, which comprises Oakland, Belgrade, Sidney and Rome, is estimated to get $12.7 million from the state as part of the first scenario and $12.6 million as part of the second. Both are less than what Morse had hoped for.

Subsidy Information as of March 26, 2007

Schools get fewer funds than thought

Kennebec Journal, March 28, 2007

(excerpt) In a letter to superintendents Tuesday, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron noted the state's own financial uncertainty, especially Gov. John Baldacci's proposal to include a controversial $1 increase on the cigarette tax as revenue in the budget. The cigarette tax increase would raise approximately $130 million.

Baldacci's budget also includes savings projected to result from a controversial -- and as yet undecided -- consolidation of Maine's school districts.

But Baldacci's proposal, and other proposals to reduce school administration costs, are all still being discussed in the Legislature. Whatever is decided is likely to further affect school funding.

To account for the potential for state funding changes, the state gave schools two possible estimates of how much they would receive from the state.

One estimate attempts to project how much each school would get if the Legislature chooses to reduce the amount of money earmarked for schools. The other assumes Baldacci's revised budget is adopted.

Maine state revenues down, cuts expected

Bangor Daily News, March 27, 2007

(excerpt) State revenues for this year and for the next two years are being reprojected downward by about $75 million, and Gov. John Baldacci says the change in expected income means cuts in state spending.

"This is challenging news, "Baldacci said, "but it is not unexpected."

The governor said he has ordered Finance Commissioner Rebecca Wyke to review all planned state expenditures for the rest of this budget year, which ends June 30, to see which ones can be reduced, delayed or eliminated. He said the current budget includes $30 million appropriated to the state budget reserve, which will be tapped "as a last resort" to balance the budget.

The revenues are projected at $34 million below estimates for the rest of this year, down by $21 million in 2008 and by $20 million in 2009.

"We will have a change package for the [Appropriations] committee within two weeks to make up the $41 million," Baldacci said. "We will be proposing cuts to make that up."

Bill examines making teachers state staff

Kennebec Journal, March 27, 2007

(excerpt) A proposal to study making all Maine teachers state employees goes Wednesday to the Legislature's Education Committee.

The resolution would establish a commission directed to review and report on the possibility of making all public school teachers in Maine employees of the state.

Rep. Randy Hotham, R-Dixfield, is the sponsor of the bill, with co-sponsors Rep. Joshua Tardy, R-Newport, and Sens. Earle McCormick, R-West Gardiner, Peter Mills, R-Cornville and Joseph Perry, D-Bangor.

Poor Behavior Is Linked to Time in Day Care

New York Times, March 26, 2007

(excerpt) A much-anticipated report from the largest and longest-running study of American child care has found that keeping a preschooler in a day care center for a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class — and that the effect persisted through the sixth grade.

The effect was slight, and well within the normal range for healthy children, the researchers found. And as expected, parents’ guidance and their genes had by far the strongest influence on how children behaved.

But the finding held up regardless of the child’s sex or family income, and regardless of the quality of the day care center. With more than two million American preschoolers attending day care, the increased disruptiveness very likely contributes to the load on teachers who must manage large classrooms, the authors argue.

On the positive side, they also found that time spent in high-quality day care centers was correlated with higher vocabulary scores through elementary school.

The research, being reported today as part of the federally financed Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, tracked more than 1,300 children in various arrangements, including staying home with a parent; being cared for by a nanny or a relative; or attending a large day care center. Once the subjects reached school, the study used teacher ratings of each child to assess behaviors like interrupting class, teasing and bullying.

The findings are certain to feed a long-running debate over day care, experts say.

“I have accused the study authors of doing everything they could to make this negative finding go away, but they couldn’t do it,” said Sharon Landesman Ramey, director of the Georgetown University Center on Health and Education. “They knew this would be disturbing news for parents, but at some point, if that’s what you’re finding, then you have to report it.”

Failing Schools See a Solution in Longer Day

New York Times, March 26, 2007

(excerpt) States and school districts nationwide are moving to lengthen the day at struggling schools, spurred by grim test results suggesting that more than 10,000 schools are likely to be declared failing under federal law next year.

In Massachusetts, in the forefront of the movement, Gov. Deval L. Patrick is allocating $6.5 million this year for longer days and can barely keep pace with demand: 84 schools have expressed interest.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York has proposed an extended day as one of five options for his state’s troubled schools, part of a $7 billion increase in spending on education over the next four years — apart from the 37 minutes of extra tutoring that children in some city schools already receive four times a week.

And Gov. M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut is proposing to lengthen the day at persistently failing schools as part of a push to raise state spending on education by $1 billion.

“In 15 years, I’d be very surprised if the old school calendar still dominates in urban settings,” said Mark Roosevelt, superintendent of schools in Pittsburgh, which has added 45 minutes a day at eight of its lowest-performing schools and 10 more days to their academic year.

Reduced enrollment, increasing costs spurs superintendent to recommend shutting down school

Bangor Daily News, March 22, 2007

(excerpt) At a meeting in 2001, residents voiced concern over both the declining enrollment and the increasing cost of sustaining the school. By that time, enrollment was half of what it had been 15 years earlier.

The school last faced the threat of closure in 2004, when Gendron announced plans to close the school in June 2005. The decision faced opposition from a number of parents who formed a collective called the Educating Kids Locally Support Group and successfully lobbied representatives, senators and education officials to keep the school open.

The reaction to Moreau’s announcement was mixed on Tuesday, with some expressing a desire to save the school and retain the benefits of its small teacher-to-pupil ratio and unique program offerings, while a similar number spoke in favor of shutting the facility.

Parent Lisa Ammerman said she couldn’t understand why the state wanted to close the school, since education costs in unorganized territories are funded solely by property owners in the territories. Funding does not come out of the state’s General Fund.

"Taxpayers in unorganized territories pay into a state fund to administer services in unorganized territories including education, so it is the job of the superintendent, Moreau, to use that money as effectively as possible for the education of children," Connerty-Marin said.

Ammerman also wondered what the projected savings to taxpayers would be once the school closed. "In the grand scheme of things, it won’t be much," Moreau admitted on Tuesday.

Again, Moreau stressed, he just could not recommend keeping the school open for such a small number of pupils when faced with the high cost of operating the facility. "It’s the kiss of death, I know, to Benedicta," he said of closing the school. "But I can’t help it."

Stephen L. Bowen: Still time for compromise on education reform

Bangor Daily News, March 21, 2007

(excerpt) The primary flaw that the committee’s plan shares with the governor’s is its ceaseless focus not on the quality or efficiency of Maine’s school districts, but on their size. In both plans, the ultimate goal is to simply increase the size of districts, despite a good deal of research from across the nation showing that larger districts can often be less efficient than smaller ones. According to the Education Department’s own data, size is a far from ideal indicator of administrative efficiency. Fully half the state’s 10 largest school districts dedicate a higher percentage of their total spending to school administration than the state average. Belfast-area SAD 34 spends a smaller percentage of its education dollar on school system administration than six of the top 10 largest districts in the state, despite having more than a thousand fewer students than any of them. My own district, Camden-based SAD 28, with 850 students, devotes 4.39 percent of total spending to school administration, less than all but two of the state’s 10 largest districts.

Under both consolidation proposals, though, efficient and inefficient districts would be merged together. The governor’s plan, for instance, would replace the Bangor area’s many school units with one enormous district serving 15,000 students. In so doing, it would merge efficient Bangor and Old Town, both of which dedicate less than 3 percent of total spending on system administration, with inefficient Brewer and Orono, which both spend almost 6 percent. Hermon spends more than twice as much on system administration, on a percentage basis, than Orrington, which has a third fewer students.

Rather than simply merge districts like these in the hope that savings will result, the focus needs to be on generating efficiency within and between those districts while maintaining quality educational programs.

David Casavant: Time at hand for changes in education

Bangor Daily News, March 20, 2007

(excerpt) Through its membership and on behalf of the business community, the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce is calling for legislators, municipal officials, and school boards to provide bold leadership to assure the future of Maine through the efficient use of educational resources. Gov. John Baldacci and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron demonstrated such leadership in responding to the need to restructure education administration. Whether government requires school districts or suggests "planning cooperatives," whether 26 or 65 in number, state and local governments must act with resolve.

The Education Committee recommendation falls short. By requiring consolidation of educational administrative units where there are fewer than 1,200 pupils and seeking only $36.5 million in savings beginning in fiscal year ’09, the proposal does not realize the potential savings based on economies of scale and effective administration. Even without reducing the number of teachers, the governor’s proposal suggests $146 million of savings over the next three years.

Districts weigh regional center for special ed

Portland Press Herald, March 19, 2007

(excerpt) A collection of southern Maine school districts hopes to meet the needs of students with developmental disorders better by establishing a regional treatment center.

Students from towns such as Gorham, Windham, Raymond and Standish would take part in the program, which would be tailored to their needs and keep them closer to home.

The program would operate at the former Little Falls School in North Gorham starting this fall. About 20 students in grades 5-8 would be in the first class, with more to follow in the next several years.

The project is a new initiative by the Sebago Alliance, a nonprofit education collaborative made up of Gorham, Westbrook, Windham, Raymond and School Administrative District 6, which includes Standish, Buxton, Hollis, Limington and Frye Island.

At a time when the state is looking for savings through regionalization and consolidation of government services, alliance members say their organization has yielded real benefits.

SAD 3 plans groundbreaking for new school

Kennebec Journal, March 15, 2007

(excerpt) The board tentatively decided to forgo two of three additional projects, or bid alternates, related to the construction. All of the projects would be locally funded and increase the overall cost of the school, which would require another referendum for approval, Mosseau said.

Fencing around the athletic fields and extra classroom storage cabinets can be added at a later date and will probably be dropped from the list of bid alternates, Mosseau said. The fencing would cost $36,000 and the storage cabinets $54,000, she said.

The board is leaning toward seeking approval for a sidewalk snow melt system. The system would cost an additional $38,500, but would be more expensive to add after construction.

Research indicates that sidewalk snow melt systems save wear and tear on buildings because salt and sand are not needed, Mosseau said.

"They're not tracking salt, sand and grit into the hallways," Mosseau said.

The snow melt system would be fed by the wood chip-fired boiler. The boiler, which will heat the school, will have enough hot water to heat the sidewalk, Mosseau said.

Peter Mills: A warning reminiscent of Dwight

Bangor Daily News, March 14, 2007

(excerpt) Today, most state governments, and Maine in particular, are subject to a similar dominance that could fittingly be called the "socio-educational complex," one that is supported by the two big pillars of state spending:

• Social services costing $2.8 billion per year in state and federal dollars; and
• Kindergarten through 12th-grade education costing more than $2 billion per year.

Together they account for more than 12 percent of Maine’s gross state product.

Within social services, about 90 percent of the money is spent on contract payments to private nonprofit providers who employ tens of thousands of Maine citizens to take care of hundreds of thousands more. Each year, a number of those who work for these providers are elected to the Maine Legislature. They serve on key committees, such as Appropriations and Human Services, where public money is dispensed to their employers.

On the education side, current and retired teachers comprise a fifth of the Maine Legislature and 70 percent of the Education Committee.

Education committee dithers and then punts

Maine Sunday Telegram, March 11, 2007

(excerpt) Instead, a committee larded with teachers, ex-teachers and procrastinators consulted with the Maine School Management Association, which isn't so keen on putting its members out of work. Instead of consolidation, members recommended the creation of another layer of bureaucracy to study ways to possibly consolidate school districts into units too small to achieve real efficiencies. There's no mandate that these recommendations be followed, or that actual savings accrue.

Sen. Peter Bowman, D-York, the committee chair, excused his panel's lame product by suggesting that members wouldn't have approved anything stronger. So he had no choice but to put together a nothing-burger of a concept draft, fudge up some imaginary savings, and punt it to the Appropriations Committee.

Appropriators ought waste no time crumpling it up and starting over.

Lengthen the school year?

Portland Press Herald, March 13, 2007

(excerpt) A proposal to add 10 days to the state's 175-day school year is scheduled for a public hearing before the Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee at 1 p.m. today.

It is sponsored by Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, who argues the measure will raise Maine's state and national achievement test scores and increase teacher salaries by paying them for the 10 extra days.

The Mills bill is one of at least two proposals this session that would tweak Maine's long-standing school calendar, which requires Maine's 198,000 school children to spend at least 175 days a year in school and five hours each school day in instruction. Another proposal, to benefit the tourism industry, would require schools to wait until after Labor Day to start the school year.

Supporters of a longer school year believe it would improve education and make Maine students more competitive in the global economy. It's a debate that's playing out in other states, too, such as Massachusetts and Illinois. But the price -- $44 million in extra pay and costs to keep schools open longer -- could make it hard for the bill to win broad support in the Legislature.

"We have the shortest school day in America or probably the free world," Mills said.

Proposal softens merger strategy

Portland Press Herald, March 9, 2007

(excerpt) The plan endorsed by a majority of the Education Committee and presented to the Appropriations Committee would establish a minimum school district size of 1,200 students.

School districts with fewer students would have to submit a plan by 2010 to consolidate with other school systems, although the consolidation of any districts would be subject to approval by local voters. School systems could choose which systems they would consolidate with.

Baldacci's plan, meanwhile, would force Maine's 290 school districts to consolidate into just 26 by July 2008. The 26 districts would be mandated by the state, based on the state's 26 existing regional technical centers.

"One criticism of what we've done is we do too little and it takes too long to do it," said Sen. Peter Bowman, D-Kittery, Education Committee chairman.

"But if you want to get a bill through both chambers (of the state Legislature) and get it out of committee, you have to do what we did," he said. "It's like the metaphor of a high-speed train. If you're going too fast and the radius of the turn is tight, you're going to lose control and have a problem on your hands."

Baldacci, who said he would not support a plan that does not reduce education administration, acknowledged that Education Committee members worked hard on their plan but said the committee "hasn't gone far enough, and pushed the most difficult decisions down the road further."

Panel to offer toned-down schools plan

Portland Press Herald, March 8, 2007

(excerpt) While the governor's plan would be mandatory, the committee would let voters in each existing school district decide whether to consolidate into a larger district.

The committee's version would create 26 "planning alliances," or task forces, which like the governor's 26 regional districts would be set up according to the boundaries of the state's career vocational centers.

The alliances would then spend the next year looking at ways for existing school districts to collaborate to save costs on payroll, transportation and other school administrative services. The groups would spend that time setting up a plan to allow school districts in the regional alliance to consolidate by coming under one school administrative unit.

Membership in the alliances would include two governor appointees, and municipal and school board officials from each existing school district who would also appoint four at-large members.

Voters in each existing school district would have to approve any consolidation. Each new regional district would have a minimum of 1,200 students, with exceptions for geographically isolated regions. Consolidations that were approved would go into effect in 2010.

Hiring freeze sought

Morning Sentinel, March 8, 2007

(excerpt) A bill sponsored by a Republican legislator sends this message: Don't fill vacant state jobs while the Legislature is trying to balance the budget -- and maybe not even after.

Rep. Sawin Millett of Waterford wants to save money in state government by placing a hiring freeze on open state positions.

A member of the Appropriations Committee, Millett said freezing positions that are already open will save money without hurting current state workers.

"My overall goal is to reduce the size of state government," he said. "It won't be popular, but we do carry 500-800 vacancies at any one time."

The state employs about 14,000 workers. As of Wednesday, the legislative branch had two open positions; the executive branch, which includes state departments, had 788; and the judicial branch had about 10, according to information provided by each branch.

Consolidation may be delayed a year

Portland Press Herald, March 6, 2007

(excerpt) Maine school districts may not be forced to consolidate until July 2009 but likely would still have to collaborate to find $36.5 million in savings in 2008-2009, under the latest legislative response to the governor's school consolidation plan.

Gov. John Baldacci's initial plan to collapse 290 school districts into just 26 anticipated the new districts would be operational by July 2008, and banked on savings in the budget year that begins that month.

But in a series of straw votes Monday, the Legislature's Education Committee favored moving the consolidation deadline back -- until July 2009.

However, school districts would be expected to begin collaborating as soon as possible.

Under the draft plan, state funding to schools would be cut by $36.5 million in 2008-2009, with school systems directed to collaborate to make up the cut.

The proposed cut in state funding to each school system would be 10 percent for non-instructional expenses and 5 percent for special education.

The proposal fills the $36.5 million budget hole created when legislators proposed to stray from Baldacci's plan. Baldacci has said he is open to other ways of reducing school administration costs, but that any other proposal must reach his savings figure.

Site work begins for SAD 3 school

Morning Sentinel update, March 5, 2007

(excerpt) Students and administrators of Mount View school complex gathered before school today to watch as heavy equipment rolled in to begin clearing a site for a new school.

The class of 2010, the first expected to graduate from the new high school, joined Superintendent Barbara Rado Mosseau, other administrators and school board members in celebrating the arrival of Gardiner-based Steven McGee Construction logging and excavation equipment. McGee has been contracted to prepare the site for construction.

District to consider drug-testing students

Central Maine Newspapers (news update), March 1, 2007

(excerpt) Madison schools may be the first in the state to consider drug testing for students.

School Administrative District 59 Superintendent Sandra J. MacArthur said Thursday that the Board of Directors will form a committee to study drug-testing at Madison Area Memorial High School.