Working Group Proposal

Matrix of Major Issues to Be Resolved [May 18, 2007]

Issue	Rural Caucus Proposal	Initial Working Group Proposal	Commissioner of Education
1. Timeline & District votes on Consolidation	Local districts prepared to consolidate will vote in November 2007 [possibly January 2008?].   Unprepared districts in 2007 would be required to vote in June 2008. All new school units must be operational no later than July 1, 2009.	A local vote is required no later than June 2008 to approve or disapprove proposals for reorganized school districts.	* All school districts must vote in January 2008 to consolidate or not to consolidate.   Following the vote in Jan. 2008, the process remains open for districts unprepared in Jan. 2008 to consolidate to join a new district or consolidate with another unconsolidated district, etc. * Beginning July 1, 2008 [FY 2009], a modification of $36.5 million is made to General Purpose Aid to reflect administrative reorganization. * Beginning July 1, 2009 [FY 2010] for the school year beginning September 2009, additional penalties will be implemented for districts that have not consolidated.
Number of Units	No maximum number of school districts specified	Legislative intent for 80 school districts	* Legislative intent for 80 school districts that recognizes geography, contiguous areas, population density, common working relationships, location of schools for tuitioned students, and other criteria. * Criteria established in Statute will govern the Commissioner's decision to approve or disapprove proposal s for new school districts
Number of Students - Minimum Size of Districts	Population density determines whether the district is required to have a minimum of 1200 students or 2500 students.	* SADs with a population of less than 100 per square mile must achieve a minimum student population of 1200. * For SADs with a population of 100 or more per square mile, a minimum student population of 2500 must be achieved,
Issue	Rural Caucus Proposal	Initial Working Group Proposal	Commissioner of Education
School Unions	* School unions may continue to exist and are permitted as a reorganization option. * Super unions with a super union board would monitor and review operations of the new super union.	Not determined.	Canadian model for use in Maine?
Governance	Local school boards in school unions approve the local budget to support the union.   Local Boards: Adopt text books and courses of study, Engage in local school facility planning, Holding hearings on matters such as employee dismissals and student expulsions, Adopt policies recommended from the Super Union Committee	No provisions for governance of School unions and Super union.   With respect to consolidated SADs, local boards would make recommendations to the SAD Board and provide the public perspective to the Board	Canadian model for use in Maine
Unorganized Territory	Not determined	Not Determined	The Unorganized Territory would pay the full cost of students that are "tuitioned" to other school districts.
Penalties	For districts that opt out of consolidation, penalties are authorized but not determined.	* For Minimum receivers that opt out of consolidation and those districts that meet the student population requirements but do not achieve EPS savings, the penalty is the loss of all state aid. * For all other districts that opt out of consolidation, the penalty is the loss of an additional 50% of their EPS allocation for system-wide administration.
Ultimate Authority	Approval by the Commissioner and voter approval.	Approval by the Commissioner, subject to voter approval.	Determined by Statute.  Criteria in the Statute will govern the Commissioner's approval or disapproval of districts.  Local units will vote?