State’s School Reorg. Plan Will Not Meet Key Goal
Number of School Units Will Be Many More than 80 Sought
Voters in Northern/Eastern Washington County to Vote January 13

By Will Tuell, Downeast Coastal Press, 1/6/09-1/12/09

A report by Jeffrey Austin and Kate Dufour in the December 2008 Maine Townsman, a publication of the Maine Municipal Association, indicates that the state's school reorganization law will not reduce the number of school governance units from the 290 today down to “around 80” as sought by Gov. John E. Baldacci’s administration.

In 2008, 22 reorganization plans involving 108 school units were put before voters across the state. Of these, 16 plans involving 65 units were approved. Six plans that would have consolidated 43 school systems were defeated.

Additionally, 47 school units were exempt from having to consolidate. Thirty-two of these involved urban areas with high student populations that already meet the minimum enrollment requirements. Eleven were considered island or tribal school systems, while two units were deemed “high performing” by the Maine Department of Education (DOE). Seven units have not complied with the basic tenets of the law—develop a plan, gain DOE approval, send the resulting plan to the ballot box by January 30.

At best, the minimum number of school units will be 111. There are still 20 plans that are set to go before voters in 128 school units this month.

In a phone interview following the Machias area's rejection of a 12-town alternative organizational structure (AOS) December 9, Union 102/East Machias Superintendent Scott Porter envisioned such a scenario playing out.

“I had met with the governor about three weeks before the last [legislative] session. He kept saying that we've got to have 80 units. And I told him then that you're not going to have 80 units. You're going to have far more than 80 units. You're probably going to have 120 to 150.”

In their report, Austin and Dufour noted that votes are falling along regional lines, with southern Maine communities either exempt or receptive of consolidation, central Maine characterized as “a mixed bag,” and northern and eastern regions solidly against school reorganization.

Voters in northern and eastern Washington County will decide whether to be a part of a regional school unit (RSU) January 13. The unit would include Alexander, Baileyville, Baring, Calais, Charlotte, Cooper, Crawford, Dennysville, Eastport, East Range CSD, Grand Lake Stream, Meddybemps, Pembroke, Perry, Princeton, Robbinston, Talmadge, Vanceboro and Waite.

For moreinformation, go to the Maine Townsman Web site at http://www.memun.org/public/publications/townsman/2008/school.htm.