With the state's plan for school regionalization now to take effect within a year, following passage of a school administrative reorganization law as part of the state budget, school units are already beginning to jockey for potential partners in the newly mandated super districts. Those school districts who fail to find a partner will become "doughnut holes" and can be penalized heavily by the state.
      Although the state's suggested reorganization plan for Washington County lists only two districts, with an eastern and western district, overtures have already been made by School Union 102, centered in Machias, to consider an alternative that would partner Union 102 with Union 104, centered around Eastport. Under the state's proposal, Union 104 instead would be aligned with schools to the north, including Calais and Baileyville.

      The new law states that school units should aim to form regional school units of at least 2,500 students, but if that is impractical because of geography or population density, units of at least 1,200 need to be formed. The intent of the law is to create a maximum of 80 school units. All reorganization plans are subject to voter approval, and all plans, whether they propose consolidation or not, must show how the unit will reduce system administration costs, transportation, special education and facilities and maintenance expenditures in a way that doesn't affect instructional programs.

      To provide information about the new law and guidance about moving forward with regional planning, the Department of Education has announced a schedule of 26 regional informational meetings around the state. Meetings in this area will be held on Tuesday, July 10, at 7 p.m. at Calais High School Cafetorium in Calais and Wednesday, July 11, at 7 p.m. at the University of Maine at Machias in Science Building room 102.

      At a June 19 meeting in Eastport both to discuss the proposed partnership and to examine the implications of the reorganization law, Scott Porter, superintendent of Union 102 and East Machias, recounted some of the fight in the legislature over the regionalization plan. The Department of Education maintains that the reorganization plans will not close schools or displace teachers and students and points out that local schools cannot be closed unless the regional board votes by a two-thirds vote and the municipality where the school is located votes to approve the closure. If the municipality votes not to close the school that a regional board votes to close, the municipality is responsible for only the added cost of keeping the school open, not the entire cost.

       Porter, though, disagrees with the state's assessment of the implications of the new law. "I believe firmly this is the first step to close" some schools, he told those attending the meeting, which included Union 104 interim Superintendent Omar Norton, school principals and school board members. He noted that the consolidation plan developed by an Appropriations sub-committee aimed to abolish school unions. Porter, who is also president of the Small Schools Coalition, said that the legislative rural caucus could have blocked the budget if the members had stayed together, but some of them were from districts that did not have school unions. Porter stated that "it doesn't seem democratic to me" that the state would take away a governance system, school unions, that he feels can provide more services than other types of districts, such as SADs.

      Porter maintains that state officials are actually trying to reduce the cost of education by eliminating teaching positions. "The money they're going after is in teachers and support staff," he claimed. "They're going after teachers in a mass way." While the state student/teacher ratio is 12.7 to 1, the national average is 15.6 to 1, so the Department of Education believes that 3,000 teachers can be eliminated, saving $160 million, Porter argued. He noted that even if all of the state's superintendents disappeared, the savings would only amount to $11 million to $12 million. Teachers are "where the big money is located," he stated. But to have teachers disappear "they're going to have to close schools."
Other implications were also pointed out, including Porter's estimate that the state could end up losing $4 million in federal funding for education. He noted that federal programming is formula-based, and major drivers in the formulas are the number of students in the school unit and measured levels of poverty. While the total state allocation could remain the same, how the federal subsidy is distributed to local units could change dramatically.

      The adoption of local school budgets will also change, with budgets now to be approved through a "budget validation" process that will include both a town meeting vote and then a referendum vote by the voters in the municipalities making up the regional school unit. "I feel the legislators want school budgets to fail," Porter stated, so that the budgets will end up being cut and the local property taxes will decrease. Another push for a state tax cap, like the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) initiative that failed in a referendum last November, will then be less likely. Norton recalled that, while he was a superintendent in Lincoln, the school budget failed in referendum votes three times, but it passed when it was brought before the people at an open meeting. The two superintendents agreed that school officials are not able to explain a school budget to people through the referendum process.

      Porter predicted that the most contentious part of the regionalization process will concern the collective bargaining agreements for teachers and support staff. With different school districts merged together, salaries will climb toward the upper limit of the schools in the district. "This will be an important aspect for who you choose you want to be with" in a district, Porter predicted, noting that if a district partners with schools that have significantly higher salaries, then there will be significant cost ramifications later. "It's what will make people want to close schools," he argued.

     Porter said there may be some loss of jobs at the central offices for each district, and Norton commented that he sees the Union 104 superintendency being phased out, with principals taking over more of the job's functions. Porter said he believes at least a satellite office would be needed in the Eastport area, and he would want Norton and the principals actively involved with developing staffing plans if Union 102 and Union 104 were to join. "My worst day is telling someone that they have no job," he commented.

Penalties will be heavy
      Senator Kevin Raye, who voted against the state budget in part because of the school consolidation plan, says he is concerned about the penalties and the lack of flexibility for allowing some school units to be comprised of less than 1,200 students. He sought for the legislature to pass another bill to allow some rural districts to have fewer than 1,200 students. Previous to passage of the bill, he pushed for changes to preserve local school boards, allow school unions to continue as an option for governing new districts, reduce penalties for non‑conforming districts, provide flexibility for the 1,200 minimum student requirement in sparsely‑populated rural areas, and expand the timeline for creating new districts.

      Under the new law, regional school units will be governed by a regional school board, and representation on the board will be determined by the local communities as part of the reorganization planning process. Regional boards, though, may create local school committees with powers and duties determined during the reorganization planning process.
At the June 19 meeting in Eastport, Porter noted that the timeline for the formation of the new districts is "pretty aggressive." By August 31, school units need to file a letter of intent with the commissioner of education identifying their partner. Detailed reorganization plans are due by December 1, and referenda on final approved plans are to be held by January 15, for implementation by July 1, 2008.

      Penalties for school units that opt out of the reorganization plan will be severe, Porter said. They will include a 50% reduction in system administration funds and state subsidies frozen at present levels, which would be 95%, instead of 100%, of a school system's funding under the Essential Programs and Services model. For Machias, that would amount to a loss of nearly $100,000 a year; for Eastport it might be a $75,000 loss. "I told the rural caucus: don't make the stick too sharp or make it too heavy," said Porter, who noted that Washington County schools had already suffered enough with funding losses under the new EPS funding formula.

New partnership suggested
     Porter believes ideally there should be at least four districts in Washington County, and he thinks there will end up being three. He said that Union 102 is interested in partnering with Union 104 in part because they have the same philosophy of school governance and because there is strong leadership in the school principals.

      According to Porter, Machias Memorial High School is on the list of schools to be replaced, and Union 102 has been "in conversation" with SAD 37, centered around Harrington, Milbridge and Cherryfield, about a new career and technical education school for western Washington County. Porter noted that SAD 37 is interested in making it into a regional high school, but he said the proposal "has nothing to do with Shead. Our project is not a threat to your high school."

      "If we do it right, I believe schools boards can still have power over what happens in their schools," said Porter. "I'd rather them be a model and a leader than a follower. But we need to get out of the gate soon and act on this."

      There are approximately 4,000 students in Washington County, so there are a variety of combinations possible for the new districts. Porter observed that a district does not have to partner with its next door neighbor, noting some are afraid of their neighbors and some don't get along with their neighbors. Norton feared that Calais might "subsume" the Union 104 schools and suggested that banding together with smaller schools "might give us more of a voice." Shead Principal Terry Lux feared that Calais might be eyeing the tuition students attending Shead.

      The area of the county from Lubec west has about 2,200 students, and with Union 102 and East Machias having about 770, the western area could still form a district if Union 102 joins with Union 104. Union 102, East Machias and Union 104 would have 1,349 students. Lubec, Whiting, Cutler and Machiasport are not included in the possible Union 102/Union 104 partnership, with Porter noting that "they haven't been knocking our door down to get in."

      Norton recommended that the Union 104 joint school board meet soon after the Department of Education meetings in July to decide with whom they want to partner. "We need to get on the offense and not become a doughnut hole," he commented.