Let's start the school work

Bangor Daily News, May 24, 2007

(excerpt) Consolidation benefits everyone. OK, not everyone — those who are the redundancy and inefficiency in our fragmented local school districts will not benefit by consolidation — and it is these special interests who are the primary opponents of the governor’s essential proposal. It has been and will continue to be a mistake to expect 298 local districts to come up with their own curriculums and assessments. Defining what students need to know and measuring student achievement should be done at the state level. On the other hand, hiring staff, creating good school climate and involving parents, are best done at the school level. Students have the most to gain with less money spent on district operations.

We need to help Gov. Baldacci get a consolidated school system in place and then let the new local boards get to work. The Legislature needs to:

• Set the minimum district size at 2,500 students, 20 percent lower than the national average.
• Make consolidation mandatory but leave the choice of the new district boundaries to local communities as much as possible.
• Set a deadline of July 1, 2008, for the new districts to be up and running, getting them immediately involved in making the decisions that matter at the local level.
• Provide a common governance model, eliminating the five different types of school districts we now have.
• Require budget transparency through a common budget format.
• Require that the consolidated districts assume debts that come with school property.