School Consolidation Dominates Education Commissioner Gendron’s Machias Presentation
Local Officials Press for Town Subsidy Breakdown Prior to Reorg. Vote
By Will Tuell
Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron came to the University of Maine at Machias (UMM) October 29 to talk about a host of policy initiatives her staff is implementing, but found an audience of area residents, educators, and aspiring teachers more interested in talking about Maine's controversial school consolidation law.
Richard Paul of Addison, a recently retired UMM professor, questioned if it was still possible to achieve cost savings and increased educational outcomes from the consolidation law, and whether the Baldacci administration planned to announce any major policy initiatives after the election, as it did with the consolidation law in 2006.
“Are we still in agreement that the consolidation of schools is more cost effective, more educationally effective, and will we be hearing of other policies that were not part of the [2008 legislative] campaigns? ... Because we heard nothing of the consolidation program in any of the gubernatorial candidates platforms, nor did we hear of it [from] any of the candidates for the state legislature at that time [November 2006]?” said Paul.
Gendron responded that the law could still generate cost savings and increased educational opportunities, but declined to respond to Paul's second question or to the assertion that the governor had sprung consolidation on unsuspecting voters.
“I can show you across the board, there are districts whose initial proposals showed no cost savings,” said Gendron. “There are those that showed as great as $1 million in cost savings. Some of that has depended on local decisions on how they are proposing their reorganization. Some of it, local decisions, the savings won't happen for two or three years.”
As to the second part of Paul's question, Gendron said, “I can only speak to my department, and I don't know for sure what the governor might propose to the Legislature in all the departments. He's been very public about recommending some consolidations of agencies, but as it relates to my department of education, there's nothing else that I'm aware of that's being proposed that's dramatically different from what we've been working on, in most cases, for the last five years. I don't anticipate that you'll see anything from the governor in relationship to education.”
Union 102 Superintendent Scott Porter questioned Gendron's assertion that cost savings could be achieved across the board, arguing that in the Machias area, four towns—Cutler, Lubec, Machiasport, and Whiting—would achieve $152,000 in savings while the other eight towns, which already share administrative costs, would see a slightly higher increase on administrative costs than they are paying now.
“Every one of those eight towns—East Machias, Jonesboro, Machias, Marshfield, Northfield, Roque Bluffs, Wesley and Whitneyville—every one of them had to pay slightly more money for that central office. The big winners were those that had extremely high administrative costs to begin with. Lubec, the big winner, save[s] $90,000, and then Whiting, Machiasport and Cutler save the balance of the $62,000. What do you say to those people when they've already achieved their savings, and we bring other people in and it reaches a tipping point where the savings are gone for those who've already consolidated services.”
First of all,” said Gendron, “you've only focused on administration. When we looked at all of the areas across the reorganization, it was much broader than just administration. We pulled from other states that have gone through reorganization. They actually achieved savings in transportation, maintenance and operation functions, special education, and the ability to look at academic programming. So, I would agree with you, that if you only look at one area, you're probably not going to go that far.”
“This takes in special education administration,” said Porter. “We're sharing specialists as well. We pay people small stipends to manage transportation. If we hired a [transportation] director for the 12 towns, it would literally cost double what we're doing now. There’s really not a lot to cut.”
Porter asked Gendron if she believed there were too many schools and teachers in Washington County, and in the state as a whole.
“I absolutely believe that if we continue to operate our schools as we currently operate them, then yes, we will continue to have much higher costs, because the funding formula doesn't recognize the level of class size in many of the schools in Washington County,” said Gendron. “My belief isn't about do we have too much. My belief really is, if we're really going to have a standards-based system, the structure of schooling is going to look very different.”
Gendron said that the next legislative session, which starts in January, would be “really problematic,” because “we can't sustain what we have.” She said that the governor would have preferred 26 larger districts instead of the 80 that legislators ultimately settled on in a compromise to ensure the consolidation law's original passage.
“I would take us back to when the governor and my folks put together the original proposal to the Legislature on cost savings. Our proposal wasn't 80 school districts. Our proposal was 26. Much larger districts. Those of you who are in the 1,200 [student] range will not have as great a savings. Our most efficient districts are 2,500-3,500 [students], so your area probably won't achieve as great a savings based on having a smaller [enrollment]. Our data tells us that.”
When asked what she would do to achieve cost savings in her department, Gendron said that her staff was doing its part to reduce the state's $500 million budget gap. Gendron later said that she proposed to “flat fund” schools at their current Essential Programs and Services (EPS) rate for the next two years.
“The governor charged us with a 10 percent reduction,” said Gendron. “We are working through that. We tried to protect General Purpose Aid (GPA). We are eliminating some staff positions. We are also revamping the state test system that will save approximately $4 million. We're going through a whole series of things to reduce the [DOE's] costs.” Gendron said that she was limited in what she could do because a majority of the 150 positions at DOE are federally funded.
“DOE is approximately 150 people. Just about 80 of those are federal positions. Most of our positions aren't state positions any longer. Most of what's in the [DOE] budget doesn't stay. Even though the [DOE] budget is about $1 billion, all but about $10 million goes out to the schools in the state of Maine.”
A UMM education major identified as Becca asked Gendron what the prospects were for teaching job opportunities in Washington County in the foreseeable future. “A lot of my peers and I want to stay in the Washington County area,” she said. “What are the chances of us getting teaching jobs up here, or should we look elsewhere?”
Gendron said that UMM education majors should stay engaged with the area schools. “That's very important so that they know who they are. The population fluctuates in various programs, but there'll always be teaching jobs here. So hopefully there'll be enough to keep you here, if not in Washington County, in Maine.”
Harrington resident George Crawford, a teacher, asked Gendron whether towns that choose not to consolidate would have to go through the planning process until they've consolidated with neighbors. “The law says you have to give your citizens the opportunity to vote,” said Gendron. “It doesn't say you have to keep voting.” She added that school units that opt out will face penalties, however, until they are in a unit with at least 1,000-1,200 students.
Heather Alley of Jonesport, an education major at UMM and mother of three, expressed skepticism that cost savings could be achieved in the transportation sector. “When you were speaking to Supt. Porter, you had said that one of the cost effective ways to cut was through transportation. Now if schools are not closed down, and transportation is completely the same, how is it affecting the costs?”
Gendron replied that the DOE was looking at providing “routing software,” which she contended could help transportation departments develop more streamlined bus routes, although she conceded that such an approach might not work everywhere.
“Some of the districts that have used the routing software in large rural areas have saved as much as $25,000,” said Gendron. “It may not create as much of a savings in this area, but our experience is that in fact when you look at how the routes are put together, very often that routing software does produce savings.”
“I heard you blame the statute for requiring you to treat the alternative organizational structure [AOS] as a unit,” said Sen. Kevin Raye (R-Perry), an opponent of school consolidation since the law was first proposed as part of the state budget. “But that's the statute that you and your administration wrote and championed. You felt very, very strongly that school unions had to go away. Now you have all these RPCs [regional planning committees] struggling to try and find a way to remain what they are now, and the AOS, as you wrote the law, makes it very difficult to do that. I was struck by the fact that you would blame the statute when in fact you championed the statute. I'm wondering if that's an acknowledgment that the law needs to be improved.”
Gendron said that she helped to “co-construct” the AOS component of the law, although she later conceded that her office played a pivotal role in constructing the original consolidation law.
“First of all, Senator, I helped to co-construct that statute. I did not author that statute [AOS]. There were school board members who hired an attorney who crafted a majority of that language, brought it to us, and with other legislators and myself, we worked through that. So I did not author it, I want to be clear about it.”