The Downeast Coastal Press, April 15-21, 2008

Governor Quashes School Union Bill;
In Response, House Votes Outright Repeal

By Will Tuell

Despite bipartisan support for a series of reforms and compromises to Maine’s controversial school reorganization law, Gov. John Baldacci (D) declined to go along, quickly vetoing the measure April 7, setting up a potentially explosive showdown between angry legislators and the Department of Education (DOE) days before the 123rd Legislature is scheduled to adjourn.

“They [legislators] are upset because this has gone on and on and on,” said East Machias selectman Kenneth “Bucket” Davis after the Senate’s decision to sustain Baldacci’s veto. “They’re just frustrated. For him [Baldacci] to veto it [LD 1932], it’s like saying that he doesn’t care what they [the Legislature] want. That doesn’t sit well with legislators.”

In a press release following his veto, Baldacci came out strongly against a key component of the bill that would have allowed municipalities the option to keep control over their own schools while sharing a superintendent and central office. The action was viewed as compromise between Baldacci’s insistence on only mega school units controlled by a single board and some rural units, such as the communities on Mount Desert Island, who wanted to have the benefits of a single board controlling a central office and high school while allowing member towns the option of local control over their own elementary school.

“In its current form, LD 1932 would undermine the effectiveness of the education reforms that passed the Legislature last year with broad bipartisan support,” said Baldacci. “Specifically, the bill would allow for the formation of ‘super unions,’ which would encourage more bureaucracy and allow for the expansion of an inefficient means of school governance. Maine would likely end up with more school districts, not fewer.”

House Immediately Votes to Repeal the Entire Law

Davis said that Baldacci’s move precipitated an April 9 vote in the House of Representatives to repeal the whole law, something the governor is sure to veto should the Senate follow suit this week.

Union 102 Supt. Scott Porter said that it has become increasingly unlikely that any legislation—including those portions of LD 1932 that Baldacci supported and reintroduced as LD 2314, would go anywhere legislatively given the mood in Augusta.

“We’ll have what we have right now—a stalemate,” said Porter. “With that, of course, the governor doesn’t get his way, and we don’t get our way, and we can start right up where we left off with the repeal effort. We will easily get another 20,000 signatures before they [the Legislature] can do anything.”

Porter said that relying on the Legislature to repeal the law is unlikely because even if it passes both houses, Baldacci is sure to veto, and neither chamber can muster a veto-proof majority.

“We can’t get the two-thirds majority on repeal,” he said. “That’s the hammer he has.”

Sen. Kevin Raye (R-Perry) said in a phone interview April 12 that he “eagerly awaited” a vote to repeal the original law. In doing so, Raye would join Reps. Howard McFadden (R-Dennysville), Joseph Tibbetts (R-Columbia), Everett McLeod (R-Lee) and Anne Perry (D-Calais) in voting to repeal the schools law. Rep. Harold Ian Emery (R-Cutler) was absent from the House at the time of the vote.

“I’m eager to vote on repeal,” Raye said, predicting that a favorable vote for LD 2281 in the Senate as well as the House would “fan the flames” of repeal at the grassroots level, “rejuvenating” an effort by onetime Democratic legislator Lawrence “Skip” Greenlaw of Deer Isle-Stonington.

Davis Accuses DOE of Initiating “Back-Door Deals”

Davis said that Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and her staff are working hard to make “deals” in order to secure passage of the governor’s new bill.

“What appears to be happening is that the commissioner knows she’s not going to get her way, so she’s making deals behind closed doors,” said Davis. “They have got to get people back on their side because they’re not winning this battle.”

Davis said that the longer the battle has gone on the more that legislators have started to “open their eyes” and listen to municipal and school officials more than the DOE.

“It does make a big difference [being in Augusta]. A lot of these legislators are starting to realize they can’t trust [DOE Finance Director] Jim Rier or the commissioner, so they’ll come to us. They’re starting to talk to town officials,” said Davis, adding, “I’m not saying they’re stupid. But they can’t possibly know everything about every bill.”

On whether he would work with the education department to resolve East Machias’ issues with the reorganization law, Davis was defiant. “It will be a cold day in hell,” he said, “before I sell out to the state of Maine to make a deal for my town. I’ve made a lot of friends; I’ve met a lot of people who stand behind me. Why would I sell out? We’re in this together and we have to stick together.”

Davis said that the financial strength of East Machias would allow the town of about 1,400 residents to stay out of any regional district until after Baldacci has left the Blaine House.

“East Machias has a fairly good surplus. We can buy three years until we’ve got a different governor,” he said. “Once they [DOE] get you in [an RSU] you’re done for. You never can get out. I truly believe there will be new faces [in the Legislature], new legislation, and a new governor.”