State trash talks school unions

Bar Harbor Times, March 7, 2008

(excerpt) On its website, the DOE wrote, “The school union structure is Maine’s highest cost form of school governance with only mixed results on performance…Maine spends $24 million more per year than necessary on the education of 26,719 students educated in school unions, and with no added academic benefit. That’s because school unions as a group spend more per student than in other types of school units with no better test results.”

The DOE went on to claim that 62 percent of the 50 most expensive K-8 school administrative units (SAUs) in the state, regardless of size, are in school unions, and that per pupil costs are higher in unions.

“In any structure that allows a Regional School Unit or regional union board to delegate to local school committees the authority to hire, fire, negotiate, or raise funds, the costs will be higher,” the DOE stated. “The higher costs in unions are part of the basis of EPS calculations and thus also raise the statewide cost of education.”