SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIVE REORGANIZATION
Summary of Public Law
2007, Chapter 240, Part XXXX
Updated 6/11/07
– check back for updates/corrections.
State Policy for Effective and
Efficient School Units
The law
sets forth state policy to ensure that schools be organized as units in order
to provide equitable educational opportunities, rigorous academic programs,
uniformity in delivering programs, a greater uniformity in tax rates, more
efficient and effective use of limited resources, preservation of school choice
and maximum opportunity to deliver services in an efficient manner.
All school
units, of whatever form and whatever size – SADs, CSDs and municipal school units,
small and large – must:
(1) Work with other units to reorganize into larger, more
efficient units; or
(2) Where expansion of the unit would be impractical or
inconsistent with state policy, reorganize their own administrative structures
to reduce costs.
Process
The
Commissioner of Education or her designee will convene meetings in each Career
and Technical Education region to provide information, assistance and suggested
alignments of school units. The
Commissioner can suggest alignment of units, but local units aren’t required to
follow those suggestions and will ultimately pick their own partners.
Communities
will file an “intent to reorganize” with the Commissioner by August 31, 2007
and then work to develop a reorganization plan by December 15, 2007, or, if a
district is exempted, an “alternate plan.”
Reorganization
Planning Committees will be formed locally and will determine the structure of
the proposed new Regional School Unit (RSU).
Key decisions of governance, including the size and composition of the
board, and the method of voting, will be made by the Reorganization Planning Committee
and are part of the reorganization plan that will be submitted first to the
Department of Education and then voted on by all voters in the member
communities of the proposed RSU. If the
plan is approved by the voters, elections will then be held for seats on the
RSU school board.
The Department
of Education will provide facilitators to districts that request them to help
local efforts, funding for the January 2008 election and funds to help units
with the costs of transition.
School Unit Size and Number
Existing
school units should aim to form regional school units of at least 2,500
resident students, except where geography, demographics, population density,
transportation challenges and other obstacles make 2,500 impractical. Where
2,500 is impractical, the units must aim to create units of at least 1,200
students.
Offshore
islands and tribal schools are not subject to a minimum size requirement.
Legislative
intent of the law is to create a maximum of 80 school units or the number of units
appropriate to achieve administrative efficiencies. The Commissioner may not
refuse creation of a unit solely because it causes the number of units in the
State to exceed 80.
Exemptions from Consolidation
“Doughnut hole:”
Districts exercising due diligence with respect to consolidation but
experiencing rejection by all other surrounding districts to be included in
consolidation will not be penalized if their plan documents efforts to
consolidate and the plan includes alternative ways of meeting efficiencies.
High performing and highly efficient
districts: School units whose administrative costs are
less than four percent and who have at least three high performing schools, as
defined in the May 2007 Maine Education Policy Research Institute report “The
Identification of Higher and Lower Performing Maine Schools”, are exempt from
consolidation, but still required to submit a plan to meet efficiencies. The Department of Education will work with
the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee to develop a statutory definition
of a "high performing, efficient district."
All units,
whether consolidated or exempted, including island and tribal schools, must
submit a plan for meeting efficiencies.
Reorganization and Cost Reduction
Plans
All plans –
whether they propose consolidation or not – must show how the unit will, for
FY2009 (starting July 1, 2008) reduce system administration costs, transportation,
special education and facilities and maintenance expenditures in a way that
doesn’t affect instructional programs.
The Commissioner must provide a written statement to the districts that
submitted plans failing to meet statutory requirements with the reasons for the
failure of these plans.
All
reorganization plans are subject to voter approval.
Districts
whose plans are ready in December will vote in January 2008. Districts whose plans are not ready in
December, but have exercised due diligence and acted in good faith in
developing a reorganization plan, will vote on June 10, 2008 on consolidation. The Department of Education will fund the
cost of elections held in January 2008.
The referendum question will clearly state the penalties that will apply
if voters disapprove of the reorganization plan.
Financial Impact, Penalties
General
Purpose Aid for Education will be reduced by $36.5 million in FY2009 (beginning
July 1, 2008). The per-pupil rate for
system admnistration will be reduced to 50 percent of the 2005-06 rate,
adjusted for inflation and the per-pupil rate for facilities and maintenance
will be reduced by 5 percent. The
Essential Programs and Services allocations for special education and
transportation will each be reduced by 5 percent.
Units that
vote against reorganization will face additional financial impact in the form
of penalties, starting on July 1, 2009. Penalties
for units that don’t form appropriate regional units by the beginning of FY
2010 include:
1. A 50% reduction in
minimum subsidy (the special education minimum);
2. A further 50%
reduction in system administration funds;
3. Less favorable
consideration in approval and funding for school construction; and
4. Loss of
eligibility for transition adjustments.
In
addition, the percentage of state subsidy for a unit that votes against
reorganization will not increase to the highest level as called for in the
four-year “ramp up” of state funding for education. The percentage of state
General Purpose Aid for units that opt out will be consistent with a statewide
average contribution of 53.86% instead of the 55% overall state share. The net effect will be that those units that
choose NOT to reorganize will be subject to an incrementally higher local
contribution (mill rate) than those who do reorganize.
[Note: The final version of the legislation removed
an earlier proposed penalty that made non-complying school districts ineligible
for the isolated small school adjustment.]
A unit that
votes against reorganization in one referendum can develop another
reorganization plan and hold another referendum. The unit can avoid penalties if it approves
reorganization by referendum not later than the November 2008 election and is
operational within a regional unit by July 1, 2009.
Schools and School Choice
Reorganization
plans won’t close schools or displace teachers and students. Local schools
can’t be closed unless the regional board votes by a 2/3rds vote AND the
municipality where the school is located votes to approve the closure. If the municipality votes not to close the
school that the regional board votes to close, the municipality is responsible
for only the added cost of keeping the school open, not the entire cost. (same as current SAD law)
Every
regional school unit must have a publicly-supported high school – either a
public school or a publicly-supported private secondary school such as
Teachers and Other School Employees
Teachers
and other school employees will be transferred to the new unit, and will retain
their rights under collective bargaining contracts. Contracts will continue until their planned
expiration dates and there will be an orderly process for continuing collective
bargaining.
School Governance; Budget
Transparency
Regional
school units will be governed by a regional school board; representation on the
Board is determined by the local communities as part of the reorganization
planning process. Regional boards may
create local school committees with powers and duties determined during the
reorganization planning process (before
elections of the Regional School Unit board). All school units will provide budget
transparency by using a uniform budget format and a budget validation referendum
– that is, the budget goes to an up-or-down ballot before all voters in the
municipalities making up the Regional School Unit.
Elementary school budgets.
A municipality within a regional school unit may raise and spend
additional funds for any school serving grades kindergarten through Grade 8 in
that municipality.
Cost Sharing Agreements.
Cost sharing agreements pursuant to certain laws remain in effect unless
the parties to the agreement modify or terminate the agreement.
Other Provisions
Regional
collaboration is facilitated by statutory authorization.
The
Department of Education will review and critique all unfunded state mandates
pertaining to school systems and report to the Legislature’s Education
Committee by December 15, 2008.
Timeline
Key dates
as delineated in the reorganization law:
July 15, 2007 - Deadline for completion of
regional informational meetings to be held by the Department of Education in
each of the Career and Technical Education regions. The Department will present information about
the requirements of the reorganization law regarding consolidation and collaboration
among school administrative units.
August 31, 2007 – Deadline for each School
Administrative Unit (SAU) to file a notice of intent to engage in planning and
negotiations with other SAU’s for the purpose of developing a reorganization
plan to form a Regional School Unit (RSU) or intent to submit an alternative
plan to the Commissioner.
December 1, 2007 – School Administrative Units must
submit their reorganization plan or alternative plan to the Commissioner.
December 15, 2007 – Commissioner will approve plans
or must return any plan that does not meet the requirements with specific
suggestions and written findings providing reasons why the plan did not meet
the requirements. Reorganization Plans that have been submitted and approved by
the Commissioner by December 15, 2007 will proceed to a municipal referendum.
January 15, 2008 – Deadline for holding a municipal
referendum in each of the municipalities making up the proposed RSU. This
referendum to be paid for by the Department of Education, and is for SAU’s with
a reorganization plan completed and approved by December 15, 2007.
June 10, 2008 – A municipal referendum must be
held on June 10, 2008 for any reorganization plan received or revised after
December 15, 2007.
July 1, 2008 – Start date of new regional school
units approved at referendum by January 15, 2008.
November 4, 2008 –
In school units where voters rejected a reorganization plan at
referendum, those units have until November 4, 2008 to create a new proposal
for reorganization and hold a referendum vote.
Units not approving a plan by this date will be subject to the penalties
for non-consolidating units.
July 1, 2009 – Start date of new regional school
units approved at referendum after January 15, 2008 and by November 4, 2008.