As seen in the Down East Coastal Press 1/8-1/14, printed with permission of the author.

"Super Union" Option Proposed as Alternative to Regional School Unit

By Will Tuell

Rep. Peter Edgecomb (R-Caribou) might well have broken an impasse in the highly contentious school reorganization debate that has persisted since the law was first melded into the state budget last summer with a different approach to school reorganization.

Edgecomb, a former superintendent, and two of his fellow Republicans on the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, advanced the concept of a Union School Association (USA), which would offer municipalities the option of consolidating, yet retaining the union form of governance where local school committees, not a regional school board, hold the balance of power over
their elementary school.

Edgecomb proposed that "communities would have a choice of joining a Regional School Unit [RSU], which was passed in June ¹07 and amended by the education committee on December 13, or form a USA. The USAs must have a minimum of 1,000 students. The commissioner may approve a maximum of 20 USAs. This number could be increased should a large number of schools choose
the USA option."

Under the plan, RSUs would not be abolished, allowing areas that currently operate under an SAD structure to continue to do so, while creating an alternative for areas that would rather retain some local control over their K-8 education rather than see power shifted to a regional board.

"The issue here is choice," said Edgecomb. "Schools and community leaders should be able to choose between consolidation or collaboration to best meet our savings targets and their needs."

Communities would have until June 1 to organize planning committees, and would work on developing a USA plan through the summer. They would then submit a plan to the Department of Education (DOE) by September 1.

Edgecomb sees the USA process addressing several areas, including "governance, property ownership, school choice issues, and cost shifts."

He adds that, instead of applying penalties for districts that don¹t want to participate in school reorganization, the state should offer incentives to those who do.

"I will speak to you on removing penalties in the RSUs. I have favored incentives. This past summer I attended a fact-finding trip to Arkansas. Not once did they use the word 'penalty¹ in their consolidation.

They also talked about what they were going to do to improve education. Anyone who joins could get $100 per student. That would entice areas to join," Edgecomb said during testimony before the education committee December 4.

"We don¹t send the school any money for administration if we feel they¹re spending too much. [We could] redistribute that money into [student] instruction," said Edgecomb.

Rep. Robert Eaton (D-Sullivan) who voted for the legislation last June, but later renounced his support, said:

"Let¹s find true administrative savings. I believe we can do that through super school unions. Let¹s learn from our mistakes, listen to realistic alternatives. The decision to create sound public policy is not tucked away in a budget, it rests with us. Let¹s take a look at some of the alternatives honestly. I really believe in working positively, cooperatively. I feel sometimes we haven¹t been heard in this case. Let¹s take our time, make good decisions for the people of the state of Maine and our schools. This has created dissent from town to town. It wasn't the intention, but the result."

Former Rep. Stephen Bowen, an education policy analyst with the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center and a former educator, contended in a January 2 op-ed in the Waterville Morning Sentinel that Edgecomb, along with Reps.Muse (R-Fryeburg) and McFadden (R-Dennysville), are "seeking to do more than tinker around the edges of a law that is clearly unworkable for many. [They have] developed an alternative designed to provide towns with a different way to achieve cost savings and improve services within their schools."

Bowen thinks the financial hurdles districts would face in RSUs might not exist in a USA. "Allowing the districts to remain autonomous," he wrote, "rather than consolidate into one large school unit, solves a number of the problems created by the merger provision of the existing law. The cost-shifting issues that have been a major impediment to reorganization would be solved, for instance, since districts would continue to run and finance their own school systems independently, while funding the work of the unions though some kind of 'fee-for-service' funding arrangement."

DOE Commissioner Susan Gendron has vowed to fight any efforts by legislators that would establish "super unions" as an alternative to RSUs, despite an increasing number of supporters on both sides of the aisle.

In rejecting a plan crafted by Mount Desert Islanders who wished to retain local control in their governance structure, Gendron wrote:

"It was not the intent of the law to allow local school committees to usurp the authority of the RSU (regional school unit) boards themselves."

According to Union 102 and East Machias superintendent Scott Porter, the "super union" concept was "floated" last year by Senator Kevin Raye (R-Perry).

"Kevin Raye floated that, but they [Appropriations Committee] wanted to put the death grip on school unions," said Porter.

Porter remains supportive of the "super union" concept, but like many, has serious doubt as to whether it will come to pass.