Residents approve SAD 3 budget, add $65,000 more

Morning Sentinel, May 29, 2008

(excerpt) Voters from the 11 towns in School Administrative District 3 finalized the school budget for next year and approved accepting and spending money for construction costs during a meeting Wednesday evening.

Nearly 60 residents faced the school board and approved a $19,815,880 budget that will go before voters on June 10. The amount was amended to $65,000 higher than the board recommended.

Money for items and programs for the new school under construction, including a snow melt system for school walkways, athletic enhancement money from Future MSAD 3, a wind-turbine electrical system, a power generator and an indoor/ outdoor physical education program, was approved.

The 19 articles for budget expenses passed with an additional $65,000 added to the "students and staff support" article.

After repeated pleas to increase the amount to keep certain positions intact, voters approved the extra money. Guidance counselors, health technology, library services, student assessments and improvement of staff training are included in the article.

Chirs Crittenden: Don't let the sun go down on Lubec schools

Bangor Daily News, May 28, 2008

(excerpt) Fastidious and faithful readers of the BDN may have noticed a rare occurrence recently: two articles on different topics about a tiny school that sits as far Down East as you can go. One article (May 15) praises teacher David Finlay who won the National Agriculture Outstanding Teacher Award. He won the Maine Agricultural Teacher of the Year Award last year. Finlay earned a plaque from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He is quoted as saying that he’s incredibly honored and adds, "Hopefully, it will bring recognition for everything being done in Lubec."

This brings me to the second news item (May 1), which has a much different tone: "Town Struggles To Compensate For Subsidy Loss." Rather than celebrate, this article laments. For over 100 years the town of Lubec has taught its own kids, but common sense is on the verge of doom. The attitude in town is that the end is coming, even if they scrape by for another year.

In 2007 Lubec High School received a Best High School Award from U.S. News & World Report. Only 13 schools in the state were so honored. Also in 2007, a Lubec art teacher won a Maine Arts Teaching Fellowship, one of only eight granted.

I could go on listing the praises but you get the flow of the tide. Lubec boasts a gem that should be upheld by our leaders as an ideal of education. Instead, the pencil pushers in Augusta are destroying this precious exemplar by the sea, a beautiful school in a natural, remote area that fosters Finlay’s aquaculture program and a walking trail that meanders through a coastal ecosystem down to the beach.

Consolidation repeal petition unaffected by law changes

Bar Harbor Times, May 27, 2008

(excerpt) Considerable speculation has been swirling around the citizen-initiated petition to repeal the school consolidation law since the legislature amended the law in April of this year. But Skip Greenlaw of Stonington, Chair of the Maine Coalition to Save Schools, said this week that Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap has written a letter to Bryan Dench, the coalition's legal counsel, confirming Dench's opinion that the coalition's petition is unaffected by the changes to the law.

Mr. Greenlaw acknowledged that there has been much confusion about the impact a change in the law might have on the validity of the petition.

"We had been led to believe by rumor or innuendo that the petition might be rendered invalid because of legislative action,” he said. “We were very pleased and excited to learn that we are incorrect."

Stephen Bowen: Loss of school choice a major concern

Bangor Daily News, May 24, 2008

(excerpt) In an OpEd in the Bangor Daily News, parents Sandra Pyne and Janet Winchester detailed how district reorganization planners in SAD 38 are looking to eliminate school choice options there as part of a plan to merge with SAD 48 in Newport, "School choice must be preserved" (BDN, April 29).

They are not the only parents in Maine who should be worried about the loss of school choice. A new report from The Maine Heritage Policy Center details how school choice opportunities across Maine are being scaled back or eliminated as state-mandated school district consolidation efforts continue.

Like the planned merger of SAD 38 and SAD 48, the plan for the merger of Carmel-area SAD 23 and neighboring Hermon would eliminate the opportunity SAD 23 students currently have of going to a high school of their choice using a waiver granted by the school committee. In recent years, high school students from SAD 23 have attended as many as six different high schools using this system. Under the provisions of the reorganization plan, however, existing waivers will be "grandfathered." After that, no more waivers will be granted, thus eliminating school choice opportunities entirely for the almost 300 students in SAD 23 who have that option today.

State ed director to meet with SAD 5/50 on merger

Courier Gazette, May 23, 2008

(excerpt) The state education commissioner is scheduled to meet next month with the committee that is trying to come up with a consolidation plan for School Administrative Districts 5 and 50.

The McLain School in Rockland
The Wednesday, June 4 meeting will be held as the committee continues to wrestle with how to devise a cost-sharing formula that will be acceptable to the two districts. As presently designed, a merger of the two districts would result in Rockland being required to raise at least an additional $700,000 in property taxes and South Thomaston an additional $200,000.

That shift in costs worries some committee members who fear it could result in the consolidation being defeated at the polls.

Susan Gendron has agreed to meet with the committee to discuss a variety of issues related to the proposed consolidation, noted SAD 50 Board Chairwoman Jamie Doubleday. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the McLain School in Rockland.

The meeting scheduled this week by the committee to discuss the cost-sharing formula was postponed because of a lack of a quorum. Several members were unable to attend.

4-day week for schools rejected

Bangor Daily News, May 23, 2008

(excerpt) Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said Thursday that several school districts have asked about a waiver to allow a four-day school week to help mitigate the skyrocketing costs of energy, but she has had to say no.

"There are no provisions in the law that allows me to grant a waiver," she said in an interview. "The law requires them to meet 175 days a year."

Gendron said other states have had schools move to a four-day school week in response to the increasing cost of energy. She said districts in Maine are facing a similar situation with some rural districts having high transportation costs on top of heating costs that also have been growing faster than anyone predicted.

"I suspect that we will have to revisit the law in the next session," she said. "I suspect we are going to have to look at doing a lot of things differently."

Gendron said energy costs are a growing part of the operational costs of schools across the state. She said some units are looking at schedule changes they can accomplish within existing law that would ease the energy burden.

"The last time we were faced with this some school districts took longer winter breaks," she said. "Instead of taking a week around the holidays, they took two weeks. They took longer breaks in the winter and did not take one in the spring, and they saved money by doing that."

Despite surplus, state officials pessimistic

Portland Press Herald, May 23, 2008

(excerpt) State finance officials say gains by better-off taxpayers and by energy companies enjoying the effects of high oil prices have buoyed Maine tax collections, at least temporarily.

But the legislative budget writers on the Appropriations Committee were told Thursday that the longer-term view is generally pessimistic.

Some of the revenue negatives for the state:

Total taxable sales for the month of March, counted as April revenue, were down 5 percent from March 2007, and the annual rate of growth was 1 percent.

General merchandise sales -- described as primarily sales of goods sold in large department and discount stores -- were down 5 percent for the month and flat for the year.

Auto/transportation sector sales were down 6 percent for the month and flat for the year, while building supply sales were down 7 percent for the month and 3 percent for the year.

If energy prices stay high, they will drain away dollars available for discretionary spending, cutting into sales tax receipts.

Ellsworth: School consolidation plans in limbo

Bangor Daily News, May 14, 2008

(excerpt) Representatives of Union 96 in eastern Hancock County, after voting several months ago to consolidate with SAD 37 and Union 103 in Washington County, have changed course and decided to revisit consolidation talks with the Ellsworth school district.

Union 96 Superintendent William Webster said Wednesday that members of the regional planning committee have agreed to sit down again with their counterparts in Ellsworth to explore the options of consolidating to the west.

Ellsworth interim Superintendent Wayne Enman confirmed that RPC members in Ellsworth plan to meet with the Union 96 RPC on Monday, May 19.

"It seems they want to take a closer look at all options," Enman said. "So far, we haven’t found anyone that wants to dance with us, so we’re glad to hear they want to meet again."

Voters approve school budgets

Portland Press Herald, May 14, 2008

(excerpt) Voters in Portland, South Portland and the towns of SAD 6 approved 2008-09 school budgets on Tuesday in first-time referendums required under the state's new school consolidation law.

In Portland, 65 percent of voters approved $85.5 million in education spending for kindergarten through high school. The vote was 2,311-1,229, with 8.5 percent of the city's 42,000 voters going to the polls.

The tally was much closer in South Portland, where 51 percent of voters approved $39.9 million in K-12 spending. The vote was 753-717, with 9 percent of the city's 18,000 registered voters casting ballots.

SAD 6 residents of Buxton, Frye Island, Hollis, Limington, and Standish ratified a $40.3 million school budget by nearly a 2-1 margin. Each town approved the budget except Frye Island, where the vote was 6-3 against. The overall vote was 761-413, a 7 percent turnout.

In each community, voters were asked to approve or reject the portion of the school budget that is eligible for state aid. The ballot amounts reflected planned spending in 11 areas, including regular instruction, special education, administration and transportation.

SAD 46 spending plan to cut teaching jobs

Bangor Daily News, May 16, 2008

(excerpt) SAD 46 directors voted 9-1 Wednesday to send a proposed $10.9 million budget to voters for adoption at a district vote at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 5, at Dexter Regional High School.

A public meeting on the spending plan will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, at the high school.

The proposed spending plan would eliminate 6½ special education technicians, an elementary teacher, a business education teacher and a high school social worker. It would reduce two high school teaching positions in English and science to half-time.

SAD 48 Budget will rely more on local taxes

Morning Sentinel, May 17, 2008

(excerpt) Residents in SAD 48 will be asked to shell out an additional $618,000 to pay for education next year, based on a budget plan approved by the board of directors.

The overall district budget plan includes a meager 1.8 percent increase, to $19.5 million.

But $5.5 million of that total would be generated by local property taxes, which is a 12.5 percent jump from this year, said Kelley Carter, business manager for School Administrative District 48.

As a result, the mil rate for the local share of education would jump from $7.52 to $7.61 per $1,000 of valuation, Carter said. For the average $100,000 home, that represents a $9 increase to $761.

The budget could change over the coming weeks, however. This year, due to new laws associated with the state's consolidation effort, school districts are required to hold a budget meeting during which residents will be allowed to vote and must approve spending in 17 separate categories, Carter said.

The budget meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 27 at the Nokomis High School cafeteria.

"This meeting will be presided over by a moderator, who will be elected at the meeting," Carter said. "The results of this meeting will be forwarded to the polls for validation."

SAD 54 voters OK budget at hearing

Morning Sentinel, May 13, 2008

(excerpt) About 80 percent of the $32.5 million School Administrative District 54 budget passed Monday night before the first question was asked.

Then, during discussion on article 9, spending for facilities and maintenance -- up over 13 percent -- John Keister, of Norridgewock, asked why football games are played at night, when powerful electric lights are necessary.

After the meeting, Keister said his children played sports also, but he said with energy prices high and expected to go higher, it seems to make sense to play more football games during the day. That question was one of only a handful posed as about 160 voters in the Skowhegan Area High School gym approved the $32.5 million budget almost as quickly as they could move the articles.

Low turnout reported for Portland school budget vote

Portland Press Herald (update), May 13, 2008

(excerpt) Turnout for today's vote on Portland's proposed school budget is "extremely low," said City Clerk Linda Cohen. The first-time referendum on the school budget is required by the state's new school consolidation law.

The $89.5 million school budget proposal for 2008-2009 would eliminate 48 positions - 28 left vacant this year and 20 scheduled for cutting in the coming year. The total budget reflects a 4.5 percent increase in spending over the current year.

The ballot asks voters to approve or reject the part of the school budget funded by local and state taxes. It reflects spending in 11 areas, including regular instruction, special education, administration and transportation. That amount totals $85.5 million, according to school department officials.

Cape Elizabeth school budget: Too high or too low?

Portland Press Herald (update), May 13, 2008

(excerpt) Cape Elizabeth residents are set to vote on the school budget on June 10. If it fails, town officials want to know why. Officials hope to pose a non-binding advisory question to residents on the same day. Voters will be asked whether the budget amount is "too high" or "too low," giving town councilors guidance on how to amend the budget, according to Town Clerk Ruth Noble.

Evolution fight shaping up in SAD 59

Portland Press Herald, May 11, 2008

(excerpt) The Maine Department of Education disagrees with an Athens school board director who wants School Administrative District 59 to drop evolution from its high school science curricula.

Director Matthew Linkletter argues that evolution is an unprovable theory and shouldn't be taught as fact. He's urged the SAD 59 Board of Directors to consider his view during its May 19 meeting in Madison, with a goal of removing evolution from science classrooms.

But David Connerty-Marin, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, says evolution must be taught because, in the state's view, it's a proven science.

"For our students to be prepared for college work and life in the 21st century, it's necessary," said Connerty-Marin.

Connerty-Marin said the Maine Learning Results program mandates the study of evolution in public science classes.

"Evolution is not just a belief, or based on faith, it's based on scientific evaluation," he said. "The worldwide science community supports it."

Linkletter, the school board director, believes that neither evolution nor creationism belongs in a high school science curriculum, because they cannot be proved.

"You can't show, observe or prove (evolution)," he said.

Asked at random, two parents of Madison Area Memorial High School students expressed some support for Linkletter's position.

SAD 59 includes Madison, Athens, Brighton Plantation and Starks.

Voters to get school budget Tuesday

Portland Press Herald, May 12, 2008

(excerpt) Joshua Tingley's message is for Portland residents who plan to vote against the proposed school budget in Tuesday's first-time referendum because they think it's too low.

The referendum, required under the state's new school consolidation law, comes on the heels of a difficult budget year for Maine's largest school district.

Tingley is a Deering High School junior who is an advisory member of the Portland School Committee. The $89.5 million school budget proposal for 2008-09 would eliminate 48 positions – 28 left vacant this year and 20 to be cut in the coming year. The total budget reflects a 4.5 percent increase in spending over the current year.

During Wednesday's televised committee meeting, Tingley urged voters to support the budget and make sure they go to the polls, which will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

"If the budget is turned down, we will be forced to cut more, which won't benefit anybody," Tingley said Friday. "It's already as low as it can go and still educate our children."

At Deering High, Tingley said, the staff cuts mean that several courses won't be offered, including certain Advanced Placement, seminar and elective classes that usually attract fewer students.

The ballot will ask voters to approve or reject the portion of the school budget that will be funded by Portland taxpayers, which is $85.5 million. It reflects planned spending in 11 areas, including regular instruction, special education, administration and transportation.

The ballot total doesn't include parts of the school budget that are funded by grants and individual donations, or programs such as the multilingual center, adult education and athletics, which are ineligible for state education aid.

Where are the voters?

Kennebec Journal, May 12, 2008

(excerpt) The school-budget referendums are part of a new school budget-approval process signed into law last year as part of Maine's sweeping school-district consolidation bill.

Following budget approval by school board members, the law requires that each school district hold budget meetings where residents accept, reject or change the board's plan.

The law then requires a separate, town-wide referendum vote.

If voters reject the budget at any stage, planning starts again -- from the beginning.

A vote on Tuesday in Anson, Embden, New Portland and Solon -- the towns of School Administrative District 74 -- drew approximately 11 percent of voters. A majority of those who appeared at the polls accepted their school board's recommended budget.

In Auburn, fewer than 6 percent of voters showed up at the polls Tuesday to approve that school system's 2008-09 budget.

When Farmingdale and Hallowell voters on May 2 accepted their school board's proposed budget at the polls, just 4 percent of the school district's voters turned out.

"It was a very slow, very long day," Hallowell Deputy City Clerk Diane Polky said.

Superintendent Donald Siviski estimated the referendum cost the school system $3,000 to $4,000, as districts must reimburse towns for polling costs.

Prison time awaits a former H.S. vice principal

Kennebec Journal, May 10, 2008

(excerpt) A former Carrabec High School vice principal and athletic director was ordered Friday to serve nine months behind bars for having unlawful sexual contact with a student while giving the boy a ride home from a basketball game last December.

Frank "Skip" Gleason III, 60, of Anson, pleaded guilty to the offense on Jan. 22. The case had been continued until Friday for sentencing.

The charge and subsequent guilty plea by Gleason, who was a respected school administrator and pastor of a local church, shattered the Anson community, District Attorney Evert Fowle said.

"If we can't trust this individual with the pedigree he had, there's nobody in this society you can trust," Fowle said.

Fowle said Gleason admitted kissing and fondling the boy after being presented with a recorded conversation between him and the victim that occurred the next day. The criminal offense occurred Dec. 21, 2007.

Getting school plan right is ‘one-shot deal’

Bar Harbor Times, May 9, 2008

(excerpt) Members of the Reorganization Planning Committee (RPC) for Mount Desert Island’s schools want to move quickly to develop a plan for tweaking the Union 98 structure so that it complies with the state’s newly revised school consolidation law. But at the same time, they want to be careful and do it right.

“This plan is kind of a one-shot deal,” said RPC Chair Gail Marshall. “Once you draw up your plan, there’s no comprehensive mechanism for changing it as time goes on. We want to try to build as much flexibility into the plan as possible to grease the skids for our successors, who may have to deal with circumstances that aren’t what they are now.”

Last Wednesday, the RPC met for the first time since the Legislature passed and Gov. Baldacci signed the law under which communities can request a waiver from the state’s school consolidation model and establish “alternative school organizations.” That provision will allow Mount Desert Island towns to retain, for the most part, the Union 98 structure. But since school unions no longer exist under the law, MDI towns will have to create a similar entity through an “inter-local agreement.”

It is up to the RPC to develop a plan for exactly what the new school system should look like and how it should function.

“I think the consensus (of RPC members) is that we should attempt to build a system that functions as much like the one we have now as possible,” Ms. Marshall said.

She said they also would like to accomplish that as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Ex-teachers sue School Board, claim age bias

Kennebec Journal, May 8, 2008

(excerpt) Two English teachers who retired from the Augusta school system at the end of the 2005-06 school year are suing the school board and superintendent, claiming they were stymied by an age-discrimination policy in their efforts to get rehired.

Mary Cluff, 62, of Winthrop and Jane Paxton, 64, of Chelsea say they were denied posts at Cony High School the year following their retirement because of their age and experience.

They are suing the Augusta Board of Education and Superintendent Cornelia Brown in a complaint filed in Kennebec County Superior Court.

The complaint says the board and superintendent violated the Maine Human Rights Act, which prohibits age discrimination in employment.

In the complaint filed by their attorney David Fontaine, the women are asking for an injunction barring defendants "from engaging in any further unlawful practices," plus back pay, and the monetary value of other benefits.

The lawsuit alleges the district adopted a policy of "No Over 10, " meaning that, where possible, only teachers with less than 10 years experience would be employed.

The policy favors those with less experience and adversely affects those who are older and more likely to have more than a decade of experience, the lawsuit says.

Brewer school budget worrisome

Bangor Daily News, May 7, 2008

(excerpt) When the Legislature passed the new school consolidation law in June 2007, a transparent budget process was created that requires voter approval in communities all across the state.

That doesn’t bother school officials in Brewer, where the school budget for fiscal year 2008-09 is projected to increase by a mere 2.6 percent, but the wording of the ballot question does.

"The question in the booth is going to say our budget exceeds [essential programs and services]" funding limits set by the state, Superintendent Daniel Lee told the Brewer School Committee on Monday. "On your ballot you’ll see [the question] ‘Do you approve the school budget that’s over ESP."

A ‘yes’ vote allows additional funds to be raised for the school budget and a ‘no’ vote means additional funds cannot be raised.

Lee and school Business Manager Lester Young expressed concern that residents might be misled by the wording and will vote down the measure simply because the budget exceeds EPS.

Skowhegan: School budget rises 4 percent

Kennebec Journal, May 7, 2008

(excerpt) School Administrative District 54's budget is up about 4 percent but will actually lower the average education cost.

Superintendent Brent Colbry said that despite the rising cost of teachers' salaries, health insurance, fuel, electricity and almost everything else, the average cost of education for the six district towns has either stayed the same or declined each year for the past five.

More education funding has helped make that possible, but Colbry said the school board is also changing the way the district does business to prepare for leaner times.

"We are trying to create a sort of downward glide path rather than falling off a cliff," he said.

Learning Results not well-thought out

Kennebec Journal, May 5, 2008

(excerpt) Your contributor (Alan Haley, column March 14) rightly called the Maine Learning Results a disaster, but he ignored the heart of the matter: Maine's presumption that all high school students can and should achieve the same set of high standards.

"One set of high standards for all" is not a meaningful concept. There is tremendous potential in each 15-year-old, but there is also a wide range of ability.

A high standard for one student is another's easy hop. No individual standard is well-suited for all.

The so-called Learning Results Maine has adopted are too academically oriented and overly rigorous. To ensure that every student can "calculate a 90 percent confidence interval," we force students into courses they do not want or need, and we water down courses so that students forced into them have a reasonable chance of success. Almost every student is badly served by this model.

We insist students take "more" courses, often providing fewer choices. In one Maine technical school, students can no longer take a second year of welding. They must take more academic courses.

SAD 49: Jobs to be eliminated

Morning Sentinel, May 3, 2008

(excerpt) Ten-and-a-half teaching positions will be cut in School Administrative District 49 in the upcoming budget to keep local property taxes in check, Superintendent Dean Baker said Friday.

In all, 18 positions are to be eliminated if voters approve the budget at the May 27 annual budget meeting, he said.

The proposed $23.49 million spending package must be approved by residents from Albion, Benton, Clinton and Fairfield.

A second vote, called a "validation referendum" will be held in all four towns on June 3, when residents will be asked if they support the action taken at the budget meeting.

The overall budget is up only 3 percent over the current year, or about $712,400 Baker said. Spending includes the purchase of two new school buses.

As for the cuts in teaching positions, Baker said half will come from the elementary level, with the other half coming at the secondary level.

"There are going to be significant staff reductions across the board," Baker said. "This is to control the amount of increase we ask taxpayers for. It's to try to create a livable budget."

Dianne Tilton: Funding formula the real threat to rural education

Bangor Daily News, May 5, 2008

(excerpt) The chronic problem is the Essential Programs and Services funding formula, which determines how much the state pays and how much local communities pay. It is the EPS formula that assumes because Washington County and similarly watery areas in Maine have valuable land (an artificial measure of wealth), we must also have the money to pay a higher share of our education costs. It is the EPS formula that needs to be fixed.

I don’t know how EPS can be changed to bring more equity to poorer, rural school districts, but we must find a way. State revenue will continue to shrink, and more and more of our costs for education will be shifted to the local property tax payer. Until EPS is changed, our rural school districts will suffer, no matter how large they are, and any savings realized by reorganizing will be overwhelmed by the local money we are expected to raise, whether we can or not.

I hope the battle-weary champions of small schools and local control can regroup, soldier on and fight to change EPS, the most threatening enemy of all.

I Know What You Did Last Math Class

New York Times, May 4, 2008

(excerpt) A profusion of online programs that can track a student’s daily progress, including class attendance, missed assignments and grades on homework, quizzes and tests, is changing the nature of communication between parents and children, families and teachers. With names like Edline, ParentConnect, Pinnacle Internet Viewer and PowerSchool, the software is used by thousands of schools, kindergarten through 12th grade. PowerSchool alone is used by 10,100 schools in 49 states.

Although a few programs have been available for a decade, schools have been using them more in recent years as federal reporting requirements have expanded and home computers have become more common. Citing studies showing that parental involvement can have a positive effect on a child’s academic performance, educators praise the programs’ capacity to engage parents.

In rural, urban and suburban districts, they have become a new fact of life for thousands of families. At best, the programs can be the Internet’s bright light into the bottomless backpack, an antidote for freshman forgetfulness, an early warning system and a lie detector.

But sometimes there is collateral damage: exacerbated stress about daily grades and increased family tension.

“The good is very good,” said Nancy Larsen, headmaster of Fairfield Ludlowe High School in Connecticut, which uses Edline. “And the bad can become very ugly.”

Shrinking classes shrinking small schools' hopes

Portland Press Herald, May 4, 2008

(excerpt) Statewide enrollment has been dropping for decades. Steeper declines in rural areas underscore another problem: a lack of jobs for families.

"There is nothing here for them anymore. There is nothing to hold them here," said Chris Ingersoll, 26, of Moscow, a graduate of Upper Kennebec Valley Memorial High School in SAD 13.

Ingersoll said he has been all over the country, but he came back to Moscow because he loves the area. He doesn't want schools to close, but he also doesn't see the local economy giving young families a reason to move to the area or giving graduates a reason to stay.

It is a daunting problem, said town officials.

Without young families, school enrollments will drop, driving down state subsidies under the Essential Programs and Services formula and potentially causing school closures. Without schools, it will be harder for towns to attract young families, exacerbating the downward economic spiral.

Many school districts resuming merger talks

Portland Press Herald, May 2, 2008

(excerpt) After months of waiting while the Legislature made changes to the school district consolidation law, most districts have resumed work on merger plans.

Some officials said the delay means they will not put proposals before voters this June as originally planned. They said they will now wait until November elections, taking advantage of the new deadline for voting, which is Jan. 30. The newly reorganized districts are supposed to start operating by July 2009.

"We have lost some momentum," said Falmouth School Superintendent George Entwistle.

Falmouth and School Administrative District 51, which includes Cumberland and North Yarmouth, have submitted one of only three proposed reorganization plans to win approval from the state Department of Education.

Guilford: Panel to review SAD 4 budget this month

Bangor Daily News, May 2, 2008

(excerpt) A proposed 2008-2009 budget of $7,219,748 for the operation of SAD 4 schools will be up for adoption by directors at their May 13 meeting.

Locally, the district will need to raise $2,100,912 to receive $4,054,075 in state subsidy. The latter reflects an increase of $163,755 over the current year. In addition, taxpayers also will be asked to raise $518,510 in additional local funds not matched by state subsidy to meet the proposed budget needs.

The bottom line for taxpayers in Guilford, Sangerville, Abbot, Parkman, Wellington and Cambridge is the budget reflects an increase of $185,145 over the 2007-2008 budget and will require $53,751 more from local taxation than the previous year, according to SAD 4 Superintendent Paul Stearns. This amount includes the cost of adult education.

"The board feels they’ve come in with a budget that respects the taxpayers as well as the learners," Stearns said.

Greenlaw: School Consolidation Still Unacceptable

Ellsworth American, May 1, 2008

(excerpt) LD 2323, An Act to Remove Barriers to the Reorganization of School Administrative Units, was passed literally in the closing hours of the legislative session. As predicted, a draft of this legislation surfaced on Monday, April 14, one week after the Governor vetoed LD 1932, which was the original school consolidation “fix-it” bill as amended by the Damon super union concept. The Governor didn’t like the name “super union,” and the commissioner did not like having teacher and staff negotiations done at the local school board level. In the place of super unions, school units may now utilize a provision in the municipal statutes called quasi-municipal agreements. It is my understanding that it is only a play on words and nothing substantive has changed from the super union concept.

Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the week beginning April 14 on the third floor of the Statehouse meeting with legislators and other constituencies trying to gain support for this revision of LD 1932. Judy Sproule, a member of the Trenton School Committee, and this writer met with the commissioner at the request of Sen. Dennis Damon (D-Hancock County) together with Brian Hubbell, Gail Marshall and Paul Murphy of the Mount Desert Island school committees. The commissioner is a very accomplished negotiator and advocate for school consolidation. She had an answer for every question posed to her. When we questioned her about collective bargaining at the regional level rather than local level, she told us that the department’s experience had been that negotiations done at the SAD level were less expensive than those done at other school levels. We’ll be interested to review information that substantiates that contention. We asked her why the provision for withdrawal from regional school units had been removed from this bill. Her answer was that she had been told to keep the bill “simple.” She said that the withdrawal procedure could be added next session. However, when Sen. Kevin Raye (R-Washington County) attempted to amend the bill to provide for a withdrawal provision, the Senate killed that amendment. It doesn’t make any sense to say that you would agree to a withdrawal procedure in the next session of the Legislature, and then defeat an amendment to that effect now.

Schools see savings in online buys

Bangor Daily News, May 1, 2008

(excerpt) An online purchasing system that has saved a group of Maine school systems tens of thousands of dollars in its early stages will be expanding to school systems across the state.

Following a pilot period of development, the online purchasing portal pioneered and brought to life by SAD 36 in Livermore and Livermore Falls in collaboration with a private company from New Jersey has been purchased by Tyler Technologies and is being offered around the state.

Based in Dallas, Tyler already has a strong presence in Maine, providing financial management software to more than three-quarters of Maine’s public schools through its ADS and MUNIS Solutions, and now with the purchase of the portal. The company has offices in Falmouth and Bangor and employs more than 500 people in Maine, including the chief executive officer of the company, who works out of the Falmouth office.

"The purchase of the portal at this critical juncture by a company with such strong connections to Maine’s K-12 school systems is a strong boost to this effort," said state Education Commissioner Susan Gendron in a news release. "School systems around the state that have used this system have saved tens of thousands of dollars; they will reach hundreds of thousands a year in savings as more school systems come online."

The system was the brainchild of Superintendent of Schools Terry Despres and SAD 36 Technology Director Colleen Akerman, who worked with a New Jersey company already doing business in Maine to put it into action. Akerman has personally worked with hundreds of vendors to get them to participate in the portal which allows schools to seek the lowest bidder on laptops, cleaning supplies, text books and hundreds of other products for which their school systems have previously paid top dollar.

Feds OK the SAT for state test

Kennebec Journal, May 1, 2008

(excerpt) Maine's use of the SAT college entrance exam as an achievement test -- part of a state effort to get more high school students thinking about college -- has gained final federal approval.

Maine has been using the SAT for the past three years to determine whether high school juniors are meeting state achievement standards.

Initially, the U.S. Department of Education withheld approval of Maine's use of the exam, citing concerns that it did not adequately test students on Maine's learning standards.

Maine education officials added 18 math questions to the test, and the change satisfied federal regulators.

Maine joins 29 other states with achievement tests now approved under the No Child Left Behind Act, a 2002 federal law aimed at making schools more accountable for students educational achievement.

Maine is the only state in the nation using the SAT. It was selected in the hope that more students would pursue a postsecondary education if they took the SAT before leaving high school.

Schools continue struggle with law

Bangor Daily News, April 30, 2008

(excerpt) SAD 34 Superintendent of Schools Bruce Mailloux said the changes allowing merging schools to develop their own cost-sharing formulas were a step in the right direction. He added, however, that his district still was encountering difficulties as it attempts to consolidate with SAD 56 in neighboring Searsport. SAD 34 is composed of six communities, SAD 56 is made up of three.

"Right now we are working to come up with a way to try and make that cost sharing work, but at this point in time we really haven’t come up with anything that will work yet," Mailloux said Tuesday.

Mailloux said the consolidation planning committee had looked at combining a ratio of real estate evaluation, the number of students and community population to share equitably the cost of merging the two districts but was unable to find a way to make it work for all involved. The problem is, he said, that SAD 34 accounts for 75 percent in each category while SAD 56 represents 25 percent.

"It’s roughly the same split on all three criteria," Mailloux said. "It’s called distributed property mathematics, and the way it looks now is that there would be a significant shift in cost from SAD 56 to SAD 34 communities. People are not going to support that. It’s not going to fly.