Vote yes on 3 to repeal school consolidation law
10/27/09 | 7 comments
Guest Column

Vote yes on 3 to repeal school consolidation law


By Gordon Donaldson

Mainers going to the polls Nov. 3 should vote Yes on Question 3 to repeal the school consolidation law. The law has not worked. It is unfair. It is costing more than it is saving. And once a town votes to join an RSU, it cannot leave even if it has good reasons.

The governor’s goal was to reduce 290 districts to 80 by July 1 of this year. But 218 districts remain. Only 26 new consolidated districts have been formed. And only 26 percent of Maine children are now attending schools in consolidated districts — not the 85 percent the governor claims. Maine voters rejected consolidation in more than 125 districts encompassing 200 communities, despite the threat of financial penalties. Clearly, this law is not working.

Why are Mainers choosing not to consolidate?

The law is not fair to all Maine children and communities. Towns in rural Maine have been the target while more urban areas were not required to consolidate. Sixty-five districts, representing 55 percent of the state’s enrollment, were not forced to consolidate because of size, location or other special dispensations granted by the Department of Education. Another 126 got no exemption and face $5 million in penalties next year for exercising their rights at the ballot box to reject the consolidation mandate.

The law has not saved any money; it has cost money. Mandatory consolidation already has cost the state an estimated $4 million to enforce. Local educators and residents spent untold hours and dollars to study and plan. New districts are discovering unexpected costs, including the need for more middle-level administration.

The law requires that teacher contracts be merged. The impact of this leveling is hundreds of thousands in additional salary costs per district. And some communities in new districts are finding their taxes going up, rather than down. In RSU 5, residents in Pownal are seeing their taxes increase by 25 percent and in Durham by 19 percent, while Freeport’s taxes are going down. In RSU 12, Alna residents are seeing their tax bills go up by 33 percent. Five of the 11 towns in RSU 24 (Ellsworth) have seen increases in local taxes for schools.

The law is too rigid. It imprisons communities in RSUs. Once they vote to join, towns have no legal way to get out of a merged district, even if the arrangement is costing them more and not helping students. The law does not recognize other forms of cooperation among school districts as a legal alternative to mandated consolidation — cooperatives that could actually save money, regardless of a district’s size.

The solution? Voters need to vote Yes on 3 to repeal school consolidation on Nov. 3, and let districts explore true cost-saving measures while maintaining local control over their schools. The 26 new districts that have merged can stay merged if they want, with a simple law change that allows them to become a school administrative district or a union. Consolidation has had 2½ years to work. The verdict is in: It does not work. It’s time to trust Maine residents to find better solutions.

Gordon Donaldson is a professor of education at the University of Maine.

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Comments
7 comments on this item
On 10/27/09 at 7:19 AM, Yesman wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

No, sir. School consolidation is long overdue. The problems created as a result of consolidation will be mitigated over time, and should serve as a warning to all politicians and bureaucrats that the longer you take to implement common sense solutions to obvious problems (and this problem has been obvious for YEARS), the more painful the solution will necessarily become.

Also, please be wary of any advice coming from UMaine Orono, among the most liberal communities in the state, and therefore, among the most culpable for the financial and economic problems Mainers face.

Please yote No on 3.

Thank you.

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On 10/27/09 at 9:00 AM, viper13 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

VOTE YES ON #3

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On 10/27/09 at 9:33 AM, muguet wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I cannot doubt your sincerity (that of the unholy alliance of the corporate community and this administration is another matter) -- consolidation certainly appeals to our concepts of economy-of-scale. Such an oft-implemented policy carries with it instructive empirical data. One report in particular comes to mind, from West Virginia called, "A Decade Of Consolidation -- Where are the Savings?"

http://challengewv.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/decade_of_consolidation.pdf

They're still waiting...

Consolidation of power has nothing to do with collaboration and cost-sharing, and, in fact will only inhibit your power to reign in costs as they climb. Real, research-based, more effective alternatives exist that have more to offer schoolchildren and taxpayers than this (left-leaning?) administration... There are no savings. Please vote "Yes on 3" Thank you, Dr. Donaldson, for your outstanding work.

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On 10/27/09 at 2:07 PM, Mainecommenter wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Muguent: Scale is not only about efficiencies; it's also about benefits. Being able to afford more and better educational resources for students is a major plus for consolidation.

Please, please vote "No on 3."

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On 10/27/09 at 4:00 PM, muguet wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Mainecommenter: The promise of enhanced educational opportunities is certainly a compelling one -- and consistently broken in other states where this has been tried. Again, I refer to the empirical data in states such as West Virginia and Arkansas (Commissioner Gendron's own model.) Dr. Donaldson is correct in that consolidation holds unexpected costs, transportation, to be sure, and including administration ("A Decade of Consolidation -- Where are the Savings? - challengewv.org...). As school boards answer to frustrated taxpayers who had expected savings, these promised programs are either not implemented at all, or quickly slashed. I am a parent as well as a taxpayer, Mainecommuter, and were you correct about benefits I would vote with y ou. The research is extensive, and the verdict is clear. "Yes on 3"

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On 10/28/09 at 9:06 AM, patom1 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Are there any valid reasons why Washington County has 11 or 12 school superentendens? Each school has a principle. I'm quite sure that the principles are more aware of the needs of their particular schools than the superintendents. Does anyone know what these superintendents actually do?

The tax payers of this county would be a lot better off if they consolildated into one school board for the county and one superintendent.

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On 10/28/09 at 11:11 AM, muguet wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Rural schools frequently share administrative offices, patom1, in the form of Unions (which this administration opposes, because it inhibits widespread school closures and mass-bussing it ultimately favors -- very costly and inefficient according to the data). Consolidation of school boards is not inherently necessary to accomplish this, and is indeed a huge mistake. School boards are where the power lies, and they are much more responsive to the fiscal and educational concerns of their communities than far-flung, centralized boards can ever be. To be sure, citizens will find greater inefficiencies foisted upon them from afar than from within their own municipalities.

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