To: David Connerty-Martin, Maine Department of Education <David.Connerty-Marin@maine.gov>
Cc: David Silvernail, Director, Center for Educational Policy, USM
Re: Basis of fiscal note for LD 1932?
Date: February 7, 2008

I was just reading the fiscal note attached to the Education Committee's minority report on LD 1932 and I'm particularly curious about the following:

Information provided by the Department of Education indicates that, for fiscal year 2005-06,  the average per-pupil expenditures for school unions that served pre-kindergarten to grade 8 students was $1,009 higher than the state average and $1,385 higher for school unions that served pre-kindergarten to grade 12 students.

Granting for the moment that the raw data underlying the correlation is accurate, I'm very interested in what causal relationship is implied here.  

Is the Department asserting that these same school systems could be operated for $1000 per student less, either as SADs or as municipal school districts, while maintaining the same schools and instructional services?

Yes or no.

If so, I'd be most interested to see the modeling that explains how school union governance, in itself, generates those superfluous costs.

And, if not, I'd observe that the suggestion borders on statistical fraud.

Brian Hubbell,
Bar Harbor