80 school units goal of panel
Bangor Daily News, April 10, 2007
(excerpt) A special legislative subcommittee has recommended that education delivery be consolidated into a maximum of 80 school units with at least 2,500 students each where possible.
The four-member subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee provided the full committee with its recommendations during a work session Monday. The proposal still will need to pass the muster of the committee as well as the entire Legislature before it is adopted into law. The Appropriations Committee will continue to work on the proposal in the coming weeks.
"This still has a long way to go," acknowledged the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Emily Ann Cain, D-Orono.
Although the plan represents a major change from Gov. John Baldacci’s proposal to consolidate schools into 26 districts, it still provides for the $36.5 million in savings in fiscal year 2008-09 that the governor’s plan called for. The proposal also adheres to the governor’s mandate that the new school districts be up and running by July 1, 2008.
The state now has 290 school units managed by 190 school superintendents. Between state and local funding, approximately $2 billion a year is spent on pre-kindergarten-to-grade-12 education.
Cain explained that while the proposal would allow the Department of Education to suggest a number of model districts, it would be up to the local communities to decide how they want to consolidate management and how large a district they want to establish. She said her panel purposely wanted to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach.
"In this plan there will be models that will be fewer than the 2,500, particularly in the rural areas," she said.
(excerpt) A special legislative subcommittee has recommended that education delivery be consolidated into a maximum of 80 school units with at least 2,500 students each where possible.
The four-member subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee provided the full committee with its recommendations during a work session Monday. The proposal still will need to pass the muster of the committee as well as the entire Legislature before it is adopted into law. The Appropriations Committee will continue to work on the proposal in the coming weeks.
"This still has a long way to go," acknowledged the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Emily Ann Cain, D-Orono.
Although the plan represents a major change from Gov. John Baldacci’s proposal to consolidate schools into 26 districts, it still provides for the $36.5 million in savings in fiscal year 2008-09 that the governor’s plan called for. The proposal also adheres to the governor’s mandate that the new school districts be up and running by July 1, 2008.
The state now has 290 school units managed by 190 school superintendents. Between state and local funding, approximately $2 billion a year is spent on pre-kindergarten-to-grade-12 education.
Cain explained that while the proposal would allow the Department of Education to suggest a number of model districts, it would be up to the local communities to decide how they want to consolidate management and how large a district they want to establish. She said her panel purposely wanted to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach.
"In this plan there will be models that will be fewer than the 2,500, particularly in the rural areas," she said.
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