Administration releases more details of school district plan

AUGUSTA, Maine --Maine's nearly 300 school boards would stay on in an advisory capacity during a transition to a system in which the state would be broken into 26 administrative regions if a law creating the regional boards passes, the Baldacci administration said Monday.

That and other details of the sweeping proposal to reduce the number of school administrative units and central offices in Maine from 152 to 26 so-called regional centers emerged as officials continued detailing the sweeping plan.

The regionalization proposal is part of Gov. John Baldacci's two-year budget, which he says would result in a quarter billion dollars in state and local savings in the first three years of implementation starting in July 2008.

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said the state's existing 290 school boards would remain intact during the transition to the regional administrative system. Local advisory councils would then be developed, either at the existing school board level or at each school, as a voice for local school concerns, she said.

Each of the new regional boards would have from five to a maximum of 15 members, the commissioner said. The plan does not call for any school closures or shifting any students to different schools.

If a regional board did vote to close a school, the decision would go to voters who could decide to keep the school open if they agree to bear the cost of doing so, said Gendron.

Gendron played down the impact of the loss of many superintendents' positions, saying, "We turn over 35 to 40 superintendencies a year" now.

The commissioner plans a teleconference with Maine superintendents at 3 p.m. Tuesday to explain details of the regionalization plan. So far, Gendron, says, their reaction has been mixed.

An organization that represents the Maine School Boards and Maine School Superintendents associations in the State House said both have historically supported consolidation, regionalization and collaboration, provided they are approved at the local level.

Leaders of both groups were surprised at how far-reaching and "extreme" Baldacci's proposal is, said Dale Douglass of the Maine School Management Association. The superintendents and boards had hoped to have more input before the proposal appeared.

Douglass said that the school boards and superintendents' groups acknowledge it's politically popular to propose getting rid of administrators, but said Mainers should be aware that the consolidation plan also would get rid of local school boards and replace them with "megaboards." He said the groups will insist on seeing "the numbers behind the numbers" when the proposal is reviewed by the Legislature.

Other Mainers have raised concerns about the practicality of the proposed change and its impact on local control.

Gendron said the proposal is the culmination of years of studies and reports that say the state's education system is top-heavy with administrators because there are so many small school districts throughout the state.

"I don't think the people of Maine want to wait any longer; I don't think they want another study commission," Gendron said. "They've spoken loudly about reducing spending, and they've spoken loudly about the need for improved outcomes in the classroom."

Regionalization would improve students' performance by establishing a more unified interpretation of academic standards, Gendron said. The standards under the present structure are subject to many varying interpretations, she said.