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Stephen Bowen 01/02/2008

The so-called "minority report" of the Education Committee was proposed by Reps. Edgecomb, McFadden and Muse, who represent towns in rural Aroostook, Washington and Oxford counties, respectively. Seeking to do more than tinker around the edges of a law that is clearly unworkable for many, they developed an alternative designed to provide towns with a different way to achieve cost savings and improve services within their schools.

In short, their plan would allow school units to choose one of two different ways to regionalize school services, either consolidation or collaboration.

If they so choose, local districts could continue with their current efforts to create a Regional School Unit as outlined in the existing law.

Or, if that approach has proven impractical, districts could instead choose to create a kind of super-sized school union. As with the school union model used widely in Maine today, districts that are part of these unions would remain independent while sharing services regionally.

Allowing the districts to remain autonomous, rather than consolidate into one large school unit, solves a number of the problems created by the merger provision of the existing law. The cost-shifting issues that have been a major impediment to reorganization would be solved, for instance, since districts would continue to run and finance their own school systems independently, while funding the work of the unions though some kind of "fee-for-service" funding arrangement.

Avoiding an actual merger of districts also solves the issue of regional governance, since the unions would be governed as school unions are today, by a board made up of representatives from each of the member school districts. That regional board would hire the school superintendent and decide which services would be more prudently run by the regional union, and which by the local districts.

No school property would change hands, which has become another major sticking point in the existing law, and issues surrounding school choice would be solved as well, since districts that currently have school choice would no longer be merged with those that do not, as they are under the current law.

Most importantly, the school union option would simply provide more choices to local school and community leaders, giving them the freedom they need to carefully design a regional system that best meets local needs. It may well be that developing a large regional school district, as required by the existing law, is the best step for local districts to take. In that case, they would have the choice of doing just that. If not, a regional union model would be the choice instead.

Either way, the choice is made locally, not in Augusta.

To ensure that local districts give proper thought to the approach they choose, the minority plan retains the current law's requirement that they develop detailed plans outlining projected cost savings and describing how those savings will be achieved in ways that minimize impacts on instructional services. Because cuts to the state's share of K-12 education spending will remain in the law, it is imperative that thoughtful planning be done to maximize regional savings while improving services to schools.

The ingenious "cost center" budget system and the new budget validation process also remain in place under this plan, ensuring that voters will have the final say with regard to school budget spending, and will have better data with which to make those decisions. It is this budget process that provides local accountability and ensures that school and community leaders make prudent decisions. It is a critical part of both the existing law and the minority plan.

School unions have existed in Maine for generations, and for good reason. They represent a good balance between the local community involvement that is a hallmark of schools in Maine and the need to work regionally to cut costs and improve services. Expanding upon this existing, community-based model makes far more sense than trying to impose a one-size-fits-all solution across the entire state. The ongoing struggles that school and community leaders have had with the existing law are evidence enough of that.

The task now is for Maine's legislators to give the proposal careful review and deliberation. The time is well past for trying to make minor technical changes to the troubled reorganization law. Instead, three of their peers have given legislators a bold and creative approach to making the regionalization of school districts far more effective. It is an idea they should embrace.

Stephen Bowen is a former teacher and state legislator and is the education policy analyst for The Maine Heritage Policy Center.

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