School choice must be preserved

Bangor Daily News, April 29, 2008

(excerpt) Maine has a long history of school choice, but there has been a steady erosion of families’ ability to choose the school that best suits their child. The current round of school consolidation may be the final chapter for school choice. Because of a combination of lack of involvement by voters and crafty maneuvering by those who are against school choice, families throughout Maine are likely to find that the opportunity for them to exercise school choice has been eliminated.

School choice is not popular with the education establishment. Monopolists offering an inferior product don’t like competition. School choice makes it impossible for schools to ignore the wishes of parents and the needs of students.

It was reported by the Bangor Daily News on March 27 that more than 25 percent of high school students in Etna and Dixmont choose to go out of district. Given that fact, it’s hard to claim that the default high school is able to meet the needs of every student. Parents clearly think otherwise, and it is parents who have the needs of their children closest to heart.

A survey published by The Economist on Nov. 8, 2007 found that only 32 percent of Americans are opposed to school choice (the survey used the word "voucher" instead of "choice"), and 59 percent of people gave their local school a grade of C, D or F. A survey is not needed to know that there is consensus on the fact that we need better schools, and school choice makes it easier to identify those schools that are most in need of improvement. Parents know which schools are serving their children well and which are not.

Study Suggests Math Teachers Scrap Balls and Slices

New York Times, April 21, 2008

(excerpt) One train leaves Station A at 6 p.m. traveling at 40 miles per hour toward Station B. A second train leaves Station B at 7 p.m. traveling on parallel tracks at 50 m.p.h. toward Station A. The stations are 400 miles apart. When do the trains pass each other?

Entranced, perhaps, by those infamous hypothetical trains, many educators in recent years have incorporated more and more examples from the real world to teach abstract concepts. The idea is that making math more relevant makes it easier to learn.

That idea may be wrong, if researchers at Ohio State University are correct. An experiment by the researchers suggests that it might be better to let the apples, oranges and locomotives stay in the real world and, in the classroom, to focus on abstract equations, in this case 40 (t + 1) = 400 - 50t, where t is the travel time in hours of the second train.

Twenty-Five Years Later, A Nation Still at Risk

Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2008

(excerpt) After decades of furthering educational "equality," the 1983 commission admonished the country, it was time to attend to academic excellence and school results. Educators didn't want to hear this and a generation later many still don't. Our ponderous public-school system resists change. Teachers don't like criticism and are loath to be judged by pupil performance. In educator circles, one still encounters grumbling that "A Nation at Risk" lodged a bum rap.

Others heeded the alarm, though, and that report launched an era of forceful innovation and accountability guided by noneducators – elected officials, business leaders and philanthropists.

Such "civilian" leadership has brought about two profound shifts that the professionals, left to their own devices, would never have allowed. Today, instead of judging schools by their services, resources or fairness, we track their progress against preset academic standards – and hold them to account for those results.

We're also far more open to charter schools, vouchers, virtual schools, home schooling. And we no longer suppose kids must attend the campus nearest home. A majority of U.S. students now study either in bona fide "schools of choice," or in neighborhood schools their parents chose with a realtor's help.

Enrollment slide, energy costs to drive city's school planning

Portland Press Herald, April 28, 2008

(excerpt) State education officials are preparing new forecasts for statewide public school enrollments, and the results are expected to confirm earlier projections of continued declines until 2012.

That trend, combined with skyrocketing energy prices, is expected to drive up per-pupil education costs and keep the pressure on the city of Portland to move ahead with elementary school consolidation.

"It's pretty clear that the trend is there, and they're going to have to deal with it," said Jim Rier, policy director at the state Department of Education.

The Portland School Committee's decision last fall to close Clifford Elementary School and build a new school on Ocean Avenue highlighted the impact of declining enrollments on educational costs in the city. Many residents fiercely defend preservation of smaller neighborhood schools, while others argue that the city simply can't afford to keep as many buildings open with enrollments in decline.

School Committee Chairman John Coyne said the Portland district will study the new projections and draw on other forecasts as it prepares a comprehensive plan for all of its buildings. He said energy costs will play a significant role in that process.

Intent on addressing Maine's science teacher shortage

Portland Press Herald, April 27, 2008

(excerpt) The Maine Mathematics and Science Teaching Excellence program, started in September 2000, provided nearly $1 million in scholarship support spread among 219 students.

Before the program began, the UMaine system had 237 teacher candidates. That number had jumped to 382 when the initiative ended in 2006, a 70 percent increase.

NATIONAL PROBLEM

Despite that increase in teaching candidates, the Maine Department of Education still lists math and science as subjects with teaching shortages.

David Connerty-Marin of the education department said Maine's situation reflects a national problem.

Eberle said one of the challenges in recruiting science and math students into the teaching profession is competition from private industry.

Typically, he said, such students can earn a much higher salary outside the classroom as engineers, chemists, computer programmers and surveyors, among other occupations.

That competition is expected to increase as the demands of the economy call more and more for people with advanced technical skills.

New law is victory for MDI schools

Bar Harbor Times, April 23, 2008

(excerpt) “This language in the law was crafted by our (RPC) lawyer,” Ms. Marshall said.

Having rejected the local RPC’s original plan and vehemently opposed the idea of school unions in any form, the commissioner was cooperative and even conciliatory in negotiating with the MDI school delegation. That may have been the result of a meeting in the governor’s office a few weeks ago that Mr. Hubbell attended. After hearing an explanation of how Union 98 functions, Mr. Hubbell said, the governor told Commissioner Gendron to “find a way to make this work for Mount Desert Island.”

Two weeks later, in a meeting with the RPC members, the commissioner referred to the Union 98 model as “the gold standard,” Ms. Marshall said.

“At that point, we began looking at how we could craft the law in a way that would allow us to continue to function as we do and allow other communities to retain a more decentralized governing structure.”

She said Commissioner Gendron not only allowed Mr. Spencer, the RPC’s lawyer, to write part of the bill, but she agreed that the Department of Education would pay for his work.

“He would write the language, it would go to the department and get altered a little bit and then come back to him,” Ms. Marshall said. “Anytime he or we presented a challenge to the way they were crafting it, it got changed. So it was clear that, if it wasn’t going to work for us, it wasn’t going to work.”

Once a deal was struck, Ms. Marshall said, she asked Commissioner Gendron if she could envision any circumstances under which she would not grant MDI permission to form an alternative school organization.

“She threw her hands up in the air and said, ‘Oh, no! You will be given a waiver,’” Ms. Marshall said. “I think we have every reason to anticipate we will have a collaborative relationship going forward.”

Clerks foresee problems in budget balloting

Portland Press Herald, April 25, 2008

(excerpt) Portland's city clerk sees a problem looming with absentee balloting for the school budget referendum May 13.

Linda Cohen said Maine's new school consolidation law sets deadlines and imposes other requirements that will create confusion, lead to invalid ballots and prevent some voters from getting their ballots in on time.

She said about 60 Portland voters who are living overseas, including soldiers on duty in Iraq or on other military assignments, will be disenfranchised by unrealistic deadlines.

"These school processes may work in a small town," Cohen said. "They don't work in big communities, and they especially don't work now."

Other clerks in Maine say they're also anticipating problems with the referendums in their communities. They say the new law is at odds with efforts to encourage voter participation.

"Clerks spend all their time trying to enfranchise the voter, and this kind of goes against everything we've been working on for the last few years," said Patty Brochu, the town clerk in Old Town and president of the Maine Town and City Municipal Clerks Association.

The Magnificent Seven

Ellsworth American, April 24, 2008

(excerpt) At issue was legislation that would have restored early retirement benefits, reduced during a state budget crisis in 1993, to a group of state employees and teachers. The measure had been a top priority in this legislative session for both the Maine Education Association (MEA) and the Maine State Employees Association (MSEA), and both unions brought intense pressure to bear on legislators in their bid to secure its passage.

The original proposal, which would have applied to all state employees and teachers, would have cost Maine an estimated $305 million over 20 years. But in negotiations between the House and Senate, it was scaled back to cover only those employees who were hired when the more lucrative benefits were in place, at an estimated cost of $200 million. The final bill, which had been approved without a roll call vote, also included an amendment, attached by Sen. Peter Mills (R-Somerset County), that would initiate an effort to modernize the entire retirement system.

But when push came to shove on the Appropriations Committee, which must ultimately approve all legislation that includes a fiscal component, some members balked at the oft-stated union claims that restoration of the retirement benefits in question could be accomplished at no cost to the state.

Senate OKs school consolidation changes

Associated Press, April 18, 2008

(excerpt) Billed to happen at the start of this year's legislative session, a package of revisions to Maine's sweeping school system consolidation law has won final approval as the session draws toward an end.

The new measure is designed to preserve local cost-sharing agreements and allow for creation of smaller-than-standard units in special circumstances. It also would allow the state education commissioner to approve alternative organizational structures not written into the original law.

Time short for reforms to school consolidation law

Portland Press Herald, April 16, 2008

(excerpt) Time might be running out for Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and Maine's sweeping school consolidation law.

The measure, enacted last year as a cost-cutting measure, is meeting resistance from local school districts that are required to merge and want more say over how costs are determined.

Most agree the law needs to be amended, but legislators have refused to back changes proposed by Gov. John Baldacci.

With the legislative session expected to end this week, the pressure is on Gendron to devise a compromise and get lawmakers to take it up immediately.

The lack of agreement is problematic because some school districts say they cannot proceed with their merger plans unless the law is made more workable.

Maine House repeals school consolidation law

Bangor Daily News, April 10, 2008

(excerpt) With some lawmakers still angered by the governor’s veto this week of a bill containing changes to the state’s controversial school consolidation law, the House voted Wednesday night to scrap the law altogether.

The repeal vote was 73 to 59.

"We are the people’s house and we will speak for our citizens," said Rep. Rob Eaton, D-Sullivan, sponsor of the repeal. "We can do better than what we have today."

The vote to repeal was bipartisan, as was opposition to repeal. Supporters argued the law forces consolidation of school administrations even when "common sense" would indicate consolidation will not work.

"If we have another opportunity I think we can do better for the students in our state," said Rep. Peter Edgecomb, R-Caribou.

Veto sets stage for renewed battle over school consolidation law

Bangor Daily News, April 9, 2008

(excerpt) The governor’s veto of the changes to the school consolidation law on Monday and the quick vote in the Senate that sustained that veto have left some in Augusta and beyond scratching their heads. It also has set the stage for another battle over changes to the law as the legislative session winds down.

"I fully expected the governor’s veto," said state Rep. Rob Eaton, D-Sullivan. "What I didn’t expect was the large turnaround in the Senate and the number of people who had voted in support of the bill who suddenly switched and voted to uphold the veto. That was significant."

Earlier Monday, the Senate had voted 21-14 in support of the bill, LD 1932, which contained amendments proposed by Gov. John Baldacci’s administration as well as changes added by the Legislature during the past three months. When the governor vetoed the bill, the Senate quickly voted to sustain that veto with just 12 senators voting to override the veto.

"It’s like a complete flip," said Lawrence "Skip" Greenlaw, chairman of the Maine Coalition to Save Schools, which has worked since fall to repeal the consolidation law. "I thought I understood the legislative process. But I just don’t understand this."

Pressure's on to reverse school vote

Portland Press Herald, April 9, 2008

(excerpt) City and state officials are pressuring three Portland city councilors to reconsider votes that killed a plan to build a new elementary school using $19.6 million in state aid.

They say the councilors -- David Marshall, Kevin Donoghue and Mayor Edward Suslovic -- not only defeated the Ocean Avenue project, but also jeopardized future state funding for a host of school building projects that the city cannot afford.

"It sends an unfortunate mixed message about Portland's needs," said House Speaker Glenn Cummings, D-Portland. "School building needs across the state are severe. It would be a while before Portland would be eligible for school funding again."

The three councilors defend their positions and say they won't change their votes unless there are significant changes in a project that's been in the works for three years.

Their stated concerns include the location of the new school, the long-term cost of the project and the lack of a comprehensive plan for school facilities. "There are too many unanswered questions," Suslovic said Tuesday.

The council surprised many when the school project failed Monday on a 6-3 vote; it takes seven votes to authorize bond issues. The state would reimburse the money.

Baldacci vetoes fixes to consolidation law

Kennebec Journal update, April 7, 2008

(excerpt) The bill, L.D. 1932, would have allowed consolidating school districts to devise individual cost-sharing formulas to base individual towns’ tax contributions to their regional district on measures other than property value.

The bill also would have allowed districts that currently receive a minimum special education subsidy to continue to receive it when they consolidate and would have created a single budget format for all districts.

Legislators had also amended the bill to allow a “super union” school-district structure, a provision Baldacci opposed.

In a statement, Baldacci said such a structure “would encourage more bureaucracy and allow for the expansion of an inefficient means of school governance. Maine would likely end up with more school districts, not fewer.”

CONSOLIDATION Senate to vote today on bill

Kennebec Journal, April 7, 2008

(excerpt) Senators today are expected to vote on L.D. 1932, a bill that would allow local districts to forge their own cost-sharing agreements and apply other financial fixes to the original consolidation bill legislators passed last year.

The bill passed the House a second time last week, but includes a provision allowing an alternative school district structure that would lead Gov. John Baldacci to veto the legislation.

The cost-sharing provision has drawn no legislative opposition.

As districts around the state have waited for L.D. 1932 to pass, consolidation planning has largely come to a standstill, Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin said.

Just nine of approximately 70 districts planning to consolidate met a March 28 state deadline to submit updated consolidation plans. The majority of districts -- 48 -- sent letters to the Department of Education explaining why they have been unable to move forward, Connerty-Marin said.

Legislature meets deadline after approving $190 million supplemental budget

Kennebec Journal, April 1, 2008

(excerpt) The budget is a mix of cuts and savings found in various state agencies.

For example, the budget includes $9 million in revenue from the sale of unclaimed securities by the state treasurer.

But the bulk of the money -- $170 million of the $190 million -- comes from cuts, including $65 million from the state Department of Health and Human Services. Earlier this year, hundreds of people came to the Statehouse to protest against proposed cuts to services that totaled more than $90 million.

And while the Legislature rejected some of those cuts and reduced the impact of others, a large portion of the savings needed were found in human services.

The budget also cuts $34 million in general purpose aid to education, although only $23 million of it will directly impact money that goes from the state to local school districts.

Dropout numbers on rise

Kennebec Journal, March 30, 2008

(excerpt) Using the new counting method the following year, Maine's dropout rate doubled. Some 5.4 percent -- 3,337 of the 61,593 students enrolled in the state's public high schools during 2005-2006 -- dropped out, according to the latest figures reported by the state Department of Education.

The jump is due to a new uniform reporting system enacted by the state that requires school districts to count as dropouts all students who leave school but go on to receive a degree through adult education.

Some educators are hailing the new system as the most accurate accounting to date of Maine dropouts -- they hope the statistics will focus attention on the dropout problem.

But others call it a one-size-fits-all system that fails to take into account differences in students' life circumstances or learning styles that make it impossible for some students to succeed in traditional, four-year high schools.

"We really prided ourselves on being able to transfer (students to an alternative program) and they would still get a Westbrook High School diploma," but now those diplomas count as dropouts, said Stan Sawyer, superintendent in Westbrook, where the high school dropout rate more than doubled to 8 percent under the new accounting.

Fight over school unions headed for a showdown

Portland Press Herald, March 31, 2008

(excerpt) Not all the drama in Augusta this year is swirling around the budget. There is still at least one more battle to be fought on school district consolidation,

While area school districts have been doing the hard work of finding partners and merging, as required by a law passed by the Legislature last year, opponents of the law have been working to gut the measure.

A bill that would exempt districts from consolidating into regional districts if they organized themselves into "super unions" has passed the House and Senate by large margins and is headed to Gov. Baldacci's desk.

He has promised to veto the measure, setting up a showdown between the executive and legislative branches of government. Members of the House and Senate who voted to enact this important reform measure last year should back off and prevent a successful override of the expected veto.