Merger details mire Maine schools

Portland Press Herald, July 15, 2007

(excerpt) School administrators and local officials are racing to meet an Aug. 31 deadline to notify the state of their merger plans under a new law passed last month aimed at slashing the state's 290 existing school districts to 80.

With just seven weeks to go, a few school districts are already engaged, most are still playing the field and a few have vowed to stay out of the courtship game if they can manage it.

Only a handful are trying to meet the state's suggested merger date of July 1, 2008, and take advantage of part of a $2 million incentive pot set aside for fast-trackers. Most districts plan to take the full two years allowed under the law and will not be fully merged until July 1, 2009.

Aug. 31 is the first of several deadlines school districts face as they move toward consolidation. They must submit final organization plans by Dec. 1, and by Jan. 15, 2008, cities and towns must vote on whether to approve the mergers.

So instead of spending the summer planning for the year ahead or reviewing the year that just ended, they are locked in a frenzied courtship dance that only a few entered enthusiastically. In interviews last week, many superintendents described the process as slow, complicated and stressful.