As seen in the Down East Coastal Press 1/8-1/14.

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Legislature’s Education Committee Hears Options for Amending New School Consolidation Law

Petitioners Seeking Repeal Announce Final Push for Signatures

By Will Tuell

Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs began sifting through 65 proposed amendments to Maine¹s school
reorganization law, adopted as part of the state budget process last June, at a meeting in Augusta on January 4.As regional planning committees (RPCs) met to discuss specific ideas for consolidating 290 Maine school districts into about 80 during the past few months, it became increasingly evident to legislators that changes, if not outright repeal, would have to be taken up this January when the Legislature
came back into session.

"If your only issue is repeal," Rep. Jacqueline Norton (D-Bangor) told those who had come to testify, "feel free not to take the [entire] five minutes
[alloted]. S It¹s not necessary."

The controversial law still has support in urban areas of the state, which are largely unaffected by the consolidation mandate, already meeting the
minimum student population requirements. At the same time, some Democratic legislators, those represent rural areas, are breaking with Gov. John
Baldacci and the law¹s supporters and asking for amendments.

While talk of repeal tinged several legislators¹ remarks and a citizen-initiated petition effort is under way to do just that, many of
those at last week¹s committee meeting expressed support for "super unions," where partnering schools would combine for administrative services but let
local school committees control their own budgets.

"My problem is that LD 499 essentially put too many eggs into one basket," said Rep. Bruce MacDonald (D-Boothbay), a first-term legislator and former
teacher, adding, " I¹m proposing an option for the existing RPCs to create a regional administrative unit."

Rep. Peter Edgecomb (R-Caribou), Sen, Kevin Raye (R-Perry), Rep. Jim Schaatz (D-Blue Hill) and House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree (D-North Haven)
joined MacDonald in calls to restore the school union form of governance under the law.

"If [repeal] could not be done, another proposal asked for the implementation of a super union that would maintain the integrity of local
governance," said Schaatz, "at the same time achieving administrative savings while encouraging collaborations."

"Not only did [LD] 499 confuse the issue with a lot of people," said MacDonald, "we¹re dissolving local governance structures in the state. I
don¹t think that¹s a good thing. We want to have more ownership, more sense of ownership at the local level. [LD] 499 has taken us down to some level of
OWal-Martization¹ of schools. The backlash of 499 may hurt us all in the end."

Pingree, a veteran legislator who represents parts of western Hancock and eastern Penobscot counties, said she was "disappointed" in the way the
education department had received a plan drafted by the Mount Desert Island (MDI) communities. "I felt like [Commissioner Susan Gendron] understood what
MDI intended to do. I spent a lot of time telling members of my caucus that you have to work together at the high school [level], but keeping a K-8
school board with budgetary power would be reasonable. The commissioner has turned down MDI¹s plan. I was disappointed. I still believe, especially for
elementary schools, in a greater delegation of power to local school boards..

"If you had a union model under these RSUs, that could be workable. It¹s about governance, local control, how we work together in a way that makes
sense. My constituents have had a lot of trouble. It¹s really incumbent upon us to work with them."

Members of the Machias area RPC have been looking to MDI as an example of how their proposed RSU would operate, as have other units around the state. Raye, in an e-mail exchange January 2, said that he had filed language in the Senate to ensure a vote on Edgecomb¹s union school administration (USA)
concept.

"This approach is essentially what I had advocated in the last session Scott Porter.  It didn¹t fly then, but it may have a little more support now
that people are seeing this disastrous law play out. Having said that, Ihave been through enough battles on this issue that I am not overly
optimistic.  The governor can be counted on to oppose us, and we still have the same legislators in office who overwhelmingly supported the governor on
the consolidation issue.  We¹ll see how it plays out."

Raye expected the bill to come to the Senate floor this week, although its future was uncertain at press time. Mills Pushes for Expansion of Law, Public Input
Sen. Peter Mills (R-Somerset County) suggested that the education committee hear from municipal officials and RPC members across the state during the
next two weeks of work sessions. Under his plan, each region of the state that is having trouble with the law will be able to come and present what
they feel needs to be done to correct the legislation.

Even as Mills sought increased input from the public, he proposed that the Unorganized Territories be amended into the law so that districts with fewer
than 1,200 students could potentially draw in students from the UT.

"I know that the UT is exempt, but I¹m not so sure they all should be. There should be some discussion about including portions of a UT adjacent to an
organized RSU," said Mills. "I¹d like to see it discussed because some of these towns, some of these units draw heavily from a UT. There are townships
that have 10-20 kids in them. At some point, that township ought to be included in an RSU. I¹m not married to the issue, but it ought to be
discussed."

One of the initial champions of the new consolidation law, Mills expressed his continuing support. "I¹m concerned about making major changes to the
entire law that might simply disrupt the entire progress that has beenmade," he said.

Local Opponents Continue Push for Repeal

As the Legislature wrestles with a remedy that will satisfy a larger percentage of constituents across the state, efforts to repeal the law
continue, with East Machias school committee Chairman Mike Look urging area residents to find a petition and sign it.

"[The Legislature] is not going to repeal. They¹re in a changing mood," said Look. "Now is the time to strike."

Look also urged residents to call their legislators with their thoughts about the law, even as members of the Maine Coalition to Save Schools pushes
for a required 55,087 signatures. If the group is successful, the Legislature must consider repeal, and ultimately pass the issue off to
voters should they choose not to.

Look hinted that, if repealing the law does not work, he would support Edgecomb¹s USA proposal.

 "One of the most important things is self-governance," he said. "The USA could be a good thing."

East Machias selectman Kenneth "Bucket" Davis, a key figure in the efforts to repeal the law, in an interview last week echoed Look¹s remarks. "I think
there are problems with it [the USA], but it¹s better than we have now. I like that far better than a mega-SAD," he said.

Current Law Lacks Appeal Process

At last week¹s legislative committee work session, Rep. Kimberly Silsby (D-Augusta) advanced that the current law needs to have an appeal process,
where RPCs whose plans are rejected can seek a second opinion. "Create an appeals process to allow districts to work with the DOE," she
said. "Once a district has been non-approved, there¹s no other process for [them] to go through. Their plans need to have one more chance to be vetted
by an appropriate forum. It¹s not good for the state to have one stamp. I¹ve proposed that it be the State Board of Education. I do believe that
districts should be able to thoughtfully present their plan somewhere else."

Under the current law, approval of an RPC plan rests solely with the Department of Education and Commissioner Gendron¹s interpretation of the
law.