The paper's editorial of June 24, titled, "Consolidation Delay Doesn't Mean Do Nothing," indicates a profound misunderstanding and lack of information about the reasons why many Maine voters turned down their proposed consolidation plans at the polls.

In these cases, a tremendous amount of time and effort went into devising the best possible plan to consolidate their schools' central administrative services. But in the end, the costs outweighed the savings. The projected costs in many communities that defeated consolidation were more than the penalty.

The editorial ought to have congratulated Maine people for using their good judgment about voting down plans that cost more than they saved.

We all recognize the state is short on revenue and student enrollments are declining -- two realities that local school boards and superintendents already are dealing with by cutting costs in all parts of their operations.

Maine people at the local level know best the needs of their schools and communities. They have found, and will continue to find, the best solutions, whether it is reducing administration, programs, staff or closing schools.

It is impossible for Augusta to enact a law that deals with the special circumstances of each school district.

What doesn't work is mandated consolidation -- a top-down approach that has been rejected by voters in existing units all across the state.

The law's failure is clear in the results. The goal of school consolidation was to reduce 290 districts to 80 by July 1 of this year, but we are down only to 218 districts.

Plans involving 125 existing units were rejected by voters exercising their democratic right to turn down a proposal they believed would not be in the best interests of their children. Another 65 districts were exempt from the law because of their size, location or some other dispensation.

There are 26 new districts (with one consolidation plan pending), and they should be allowed to continue if that's what the voters want.

It is not clear, however, how many communities might vote to dissolve consolidated units if they were given the opportunity. Three towns have held votes to retract their original decision to consolidate, but the state has told them that there is no legal way to get out.

Finally, the editorial suggests that Maine voters should continue to refine consolidation plans even though the governor has signed a bill delaying the implementation of the penalty for not consolidating until July 1, 2010.

The point that many people do not understand is that the vast majority of consolidation plans were turned down because the cost of consolidation exceeded any savings.

There is no amount of discussion, meeting or planning that will change that outcome.

This fact is precisely the point of our opposition to school district consolidation -- there are no net savings to school district consolidation, but there will be substantial costs in the future if the law is not repealed.

Every Maine voter ought to get the facts about consolidation. The Department of Education is one source and the reorganization status of all school systems can be found at: http://maine.gov/ education/reorg/plansandresponses.html.

Another excellent Web site is www.for um.mdischools.net. The link on that site, which gives specific information, facts and figures about the current status of consolidation is: http://mdischools.net? Where-the-Students-are.htm.

When Maine people vote on the referendum to repeal the school consolidation law in November, they are going to send a loud and clear message to Augusta: "We are repealing the school district consolidation law because it costs more than it saves."

Skip Greenlaw is chairman of the Maine Coalition to Save Schools, which collected 61,193 signatures on a citizen initiated petition to repeal the school consolidation law. He may be contacted at skipg@midmaine.com.