A legislative hearing to provide school choice for students living in the unorganized territories (UT) pitched state administrators against local parents over who is looking out for the best interests of their children. The legislation aims to address the controversy that erupted last spring about where students living in area unorganized territories attend elementary school. Parents were shocked when they were told by the state that their children would have to attend the      Education in the Unorganized Territories (EUT) school in Edmunds instead of other area elementary schools.
During the March 20 hearing by the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, Rep. Will Tuell of East Machias, who sponsored the bill, stated, "I believe we need to listen to parents, families and trust those who are actively involved in their children's education, so much so that they moved to an area that has school choice and has had it for generations."
      He noted that the committee also will be holding a hearing later on a second bill he has submitted that would restore due process and establish an appeals process to ensure that families have a say in where their children can attend school; require that the state report academic performance and budget data for UT schools just as K‑12 public schools are required to do; and create efficiencies in UT school administration.
      Jody and Douglas Cline of Trescott told the committee, "Children living in EUT have always been allowed to attend school of choice. The Maine Department of Education's (DOE) making decisions without public hearings or legislative review is wrong. Informing parents by letter that their children are no longer allowed to attend schools that many have attended for years, and automatically enrolling our children in new schools without permission is inexcusable!"
      Another Trescott parent, Penny Guisinger, who has two children attending the Whiting Village School, related how offensive the treatment by the EUT office was to parents who were told that they would have to send their children to the Edmunds school. She also related the difficulties in being a parent in rural Maine. She stated, "Policymakers should be doing every possible thing to make things easier -- not harder -- for Maine's working families. If you don't, then it's time to stop asking why young families aren't moving to, or staying in, Washington County and other challenged regions. The dreaded outmigration will not stop if families are not supported in making it work here."
     Tony Maker, principal of the Elm Street School in East Machias, which a number of students living the unorganized territories attend, noted that families had been shocked and dismayed when they were informed by letter last April that their children would have to attend the Edmunds school. "Perhaps it was in the best interest of the Edmunds school, in the eyes of DOE, to have those students there, even though the distance was greater and they had to travel past the school they were currently attending, in many cases." He noted that towns like East Machias and Whiting had stepped up and "were really willing to do what was truly in the best interest of the child by allowing them stay in their school of choice at a very, very low tuition rate while we sought a remedy through legislation."
     Scott Porter, superintendent of AOS 96, which covers the Machias area, urged the committee to support school choice for the unorganized territory students. He also maintained that the EUT administration is a duplication of local school services and could be absorbed by local school districts. The EUT also could contract administrative and transportation services with neighboring school districts to save money. Finally, he pointed out that EUT schools are "very expensive to operate," as the per student cost at the Edmunds school is $20,231, compared to $6,811 at the Elm Street School.

Administrators claim chaos would ensue
      Shelley Lane, director of state schools, EUT, argued that school choice for UT students would make EUT busing challenges "overwhelming and nearly impossible." She also maintained that school choice would mean that additional fraudulent charges would be shouldered by UT taxpayers. She stated, "Unfortunately, it is in fact a common occurrence for school districts to bill the EUT for non-UT students, as well as to bill for an entire school year when in fact the student exited the school district and began attending elsewhere during the school year. Clearly, these scenarios result in double billing and overpayments."
     Lane also argued that elementary school students living in the UT should not be treated differently than other students, who can only attend a school outside of the district where they live if there is a compelling reason, as required under a superintendent's agreement for non-UT students and the alternative placement process for UT students. Tuell's bill "completely dissolves this process, requiring nothing more than the presentation of a bill for tuition." She added, "For every story you have heard here today, there is a story of a successful transition into a school or community that the EUT has assisted with and supported to allow children in the UT to attend and thrive in public school settings."
      Marcia McInnis, fiscal administrator of the UT for the Office of the State Auditor, also spoke in opposition. She stated that per-pupil expenditures in the EUT in Maine were $14,463, but said the bill "has the potential to add significant costs to UT education expenditures." McInnis also argued that the legislation "has the potential to add pure chaos in the placement of elementary students. Just think about the confusion that would result in the educational administration in your communities if parents or guardians could designate the elementary school that their child would attend. It's unimaginable, and it will likely induce more rural communities to deorganize. Unimpeded choice for elementary school children would be a tremendous drawing card to communities considering deorganization."
      Barbara Pineau, special education director for the EUT, commented, "In general, this bill is saying that if parents living in Connor Township, for example, want to send their child to school in Bangor, they can do so without any input whatsoever from the commissioner. And the EUT will continue to be fiscally responsible. It is inconceivable how the EUT could ever keep track of these students, given the struggles we already have with obtaining accurate information from tuition schools. It is even more inconceivable how the EUT and its taxpayers could ever begin to cover the costs of providing transportation. On its face, the bill sounds harmless, but there are many, many legs to this spider that have obviously not been considered."
      Concerning the school choice issue, Debra Plowman, director of policies and programs for the Department of Education, said that, if the committee wants to support the bill, she would request that it be amended to treat all Maine students equally, allowing school choice without regard to residency.
     The committee will be holding a work session on the bill in the near future.