UNION 98 MEETING JANUARY 22, 2007

“Governor Baldacci’s Proposal for School Consolidation…The creation

of Regional Learning Centers”

The LSRS Initiative

“Local Schools, Regional Support” stated goals:

• Shifts resources from administration to the classroom level to achieve excellence in education for all Maine students.

• Consolidates educational administration to reduce costs and gain efficiencies

• Reinvests statewide savings in teachers and students to ensure all students are ready for “College, Career, and Citizenship”

The details of the proposal as provided by the Maine Department of Education:

• Consolidates the present 152 school district administrations in Maine to form 26 Regional Learning Communities, ranging in size from around 2000 students in northern Maine to over 20,000 students in southern Maine, each with one superintendent of schools and one regional school board

• Closes no local schools• Provides funds for a principal in every school• Supports principals with a local advisory council that includes

parents and community members • Laptop computers for every high school student• $3.6 million investment in teacher salaries over the next 2 years • New teacher learning communities, with $20 million in teacher

development for classroom and professional leadership• $2,000 scholarships to encourage college access for all

students • More than $170 million over the biennium in local savings for

property tax relief by achieving 55% state aid to local education.

42,785

Houlton

33,076

Presque Isle

23,156

Caribou

12,546

Madawaska

51,824

Calais

62,204

Machias77,729

Ellsworth

815,138

Bangor

93,403

Lincoln

107,595

Dexter

114,197

Belfast

126,692

Rockland

136,147

Skowhegan

147,143

Waterville

1512,052

Augusta

166,463

Bath

177,303

Brunswick

1816,429

Lewiston

2319,996

Portland

195,331

Farmington202,546

Rumford

214,228

Oxford225,498

Bridgton24

15,269

Westbrook

259,907

Biddeford

2617,728

Sanford

Local Schools/Regional Support Local Schools/Regional Support

•Region #7 Ellsworth: Prospect, Verona, Bucksport, Orland, Otis, Mariaville, Waltham, Eastbrook, Ellsworth, Franklin, Sullivan, Gouldsboro, Steuben, Winter Harbor, Hancock, Sorrento, Surry, Blue Hill, Trenton, Lamoine, Penobscot, Castine, Brooksville, Sedgwick, Brooklin, Deer Isle, Isle Au Haut, Stonington, Swans Island, Frenchboro, Cranberry Isles. Tremont, Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert, Bar Harbor,

•This arrangement consists of 35 towns and 36 individual schools with around 7500 students and over 40 building level administrators

PROPOSED REGION 7 CENTER COMPOSED OF “GEOGRAPHICALLY ACCESIBLE AND LIKE

MINDED COMMUNITES”:

BRYANT EMOORE SCHOOL

ELLSWORTH

BEECH HILLSCHOOL

BEECHNILL

BLUE HILL CONSOLIDATED

DEER ISLESTONINGTONHIGH SCHOOL

ADAMS SCHOOLCASTINE

MILES LANESCHOOL

BUCKSPORT

KNOWLTON SCHOOL

ELLSWORTH

MOUNTAIN VIEWJUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

SULLIVAN

BROOKSVILLEELEMENTARY

SCHOOL

MOUNT DESERTELEMENTARY

SCHOOL

HANCOCK GRAMMARSCHOOL

ELLSWORTHHIGH SCHOOL

FRENCHBOROSCHOOL

LONG ISLAND

DEER ISLEELEMENTARY

MDI REGIONALHIGH SCHOOL

SEDGWICKELEMENTARY

SCHOOL

ISLESFORDSCHOOLLITTLE

CRANBERRYISLAND

HANCOCKCOUNTY

TECHNICALCENTER

ELLSWORTH

LONGFELLOWSCHOOL

CRANBERRYISLAND

SUMNERMEMORIAL

HIGH SCHOOLSULLIVAN

SURRYELEMENTARY

SCHOOL

SWANS ISLANDSCHOOL

TREMONTCONSOLIDATED

SCHOOL

PENOBSCOT ELEMENTARY

SCHOOL

BUCKSPORTHIGH SCHOOL

BUCKSPORTMIDDLE SCHOOL

ELLSWORTHMIDDLE SCHOOL

ORLANDCONSOLIDATED

SCHOOL

PEMETICELEMENTARY

SCHOOLSOUTHWEST

HARBOR

TRENTONELEMENTARY

SCHOOL

ELLA LEWISSCHOOLSTEUBEN

LAMOINECONSOLIDATED

SCHOOL

PENINSULASCHOOL

WINTER HARBORr

EMERSONJUNIOR HIGHBAR HARBOR

CAVE HILLSCHOOL

EASTBROOK

CONNERS SCHOOLBAR HARBOR

REGION 7S.A.D.

ENROLLMENT OFAPPROXIMATELY7500 STUDENTS

The proposed implementation timeline:

Elect new regional school boards who will select and hire a superintendent, create priorities for regional district.

January July / August October July

2007 2008

Maine DOE Communications

MDOE develops teams to organize data and hires facilitators for every new center to:

Help with data analysisBring communities togetherMeld resources into one

State forms Teacher Learning Communities

Full implementation

How would the new region be formed?

• The revised statutes are very unclear on exactly how the formation committee will be organized and chosen:

§1104. Transition

1. Schedule. During the transition year, school administrative units within each of the regions designated in section 1103 shall collaborate, with assistance from the Department, in order to organize as regional learning communities in accordance with this chapter.

• It is clear however that the formation committee will decide on the following issues…

1. Number of representatives on the board (5-15 members)2. How representatives will be elected3. Power of voting for each representative4. Formula for sharing costs between the towns

How would this proposed Region 7 Center be governed?

• One school board of between 5 and 15 members representing all 35 towns in the region with the possibility of “at-large” membership (therefore every town would not be guaranteed a vote on the regional board)

• Voting power would follow the principle of “one man, one vote” with a larger municipality having more power than that of a smaller municipality

How would this new Region 7 be funded?

• The new regional board would develop one budget for all 36 of its schools and then distribute those resources to the individual schools as it sees fit

• All municipalities would be required to raise up to 7.26 mills of their total state valuations based on their percentage of regional pupils to meet the base allocation of the budget…any additional costs raised by the region to operate the schools would be based upon a formula of their proportional percent of total regional valuation or an agreed upon combination formula based upon a proportional percentage share of their valuation and a percentage share of their student enrollment in the region

• The budget would be approved by the voters of the region at an annual meeting and would then be submitted to a regional referendum for final approval

• Approval by written ballot would be needed for the region to raise funds above the 100% amount of EPS funding (Essential Programs and Services) which establishes the minimum amount of money that the State of Maine considers necessary for all students to achieve the Maine Learning Results

The Governor’s rationales for the proposal:

1. Claim:• The State of Maine spends $2000.00 more per

student than the national average…

Union 98 Response:• A review of actual State of Maine statistics

shows that this figure was taken from one year (2004)…The actual average cost from 1999 to 2004 was approximately $1000.00 more per student spent in Maine schools than the national average…

•b

2. Governor’s Claim:• Central office costs exceed the national average therefore

diverting precious school resources from the classroom level…

Union 98 Response: • According to a recent study completed by University of

Maine Professor Gordon Donaldson, Maine does indeed spend $65 more (10% higher) for administration than the national average… However we spend $290 less than the national average for staff to support teachers and students… This support is presently provided by the administrators in the school district. According to a recent editorial in the Bangor Daily News written by University of Maine Professor Gordon Donaldson, Maine’s percent of expenditures for administration and support services in 2003-2004 was the fourth lowest in the nation and the amount spent on direct instructional services was the second highest in the nation

3. Governor’s Claim:• Student achievement of Maine students has

reached a plateau and barely exceeds national averages…

Union 98 Response:• A review of scores from recent years on the

N.A.E.P (National Association of Education Progress) tests shows that Maine students have performed far above the national averages in both reading and math. In School Union 98, 11th grade students performed well above both the averages for the State of Maine and the schools across Hancock County

220

222

224

226

228

230

232

234

236

238

240

242

2000 2003 2005

N.A.E.P. Grade 4 Math

MaineNational Public

266

268

270

272

274

276

278

280

282

2000 2003 2005

NAEP Grade 8 Math

MaineNational Public

254

256

258

260

262

264

266

268

270

2002 2003 2005

N.A.E.P. Grade 8 Reading

MaineNational Public

211

213

215

217

219

221

223

225

2002 2003 2005

N.A.E.P. Grade 4 Reading

MaineNational Public

REG7SAT percent

School Exceed Meet Partial not meet math Exceed Meet Partial not meet read Exceed Meet Partial not meet writing

STATE 5 42 25 28 444 7 38 32 24 443 6 40 32 21 435

UNION 98 10 54 23 14 485 16 42 31 10 491 13 48 27 10 482

Ellsworth 3 46 25 26 450 8 39 20 32 437 5 45 28 22 434

GSA 2 45 35 18 448 5 53 32 10 470 5 52 33 10 468

Deer Isle 0 45 14 40 425 5 26 31 38 397 5 24 33 38 386

Bucksport 3 31 28 39 409 4 31 33 32 418 5 28 37 30 405

Sumner 1 34 21 43 396 3 33 22 42 404 4 30 26 39 395

PROPOSED REGION 7 SAT SCORES:MOUNT DESERT ISLAND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PERFORMED IN THE TOP

8% OF ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE STATE OF MAINE ON THE 2006 SAT TEST GIVEN TO ALL MAINE HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS

4. Governor’s Claim:• The State of Maine pays the lowest teacher

salaries in New EnglandUnion 98 Response:• The average salary for teachers in the

State of Maine is indeed below both the national and State of Maine average…However the communities supporting School Union 98 have worked hard to provide their teachers with a competitive salary equal to the national average and well above the State of Maine average

Maine had the lowest teacher salaries in New England

Connecticut

Massachusetts

Vermont

Rhode Island

New Hampshire

$0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,000

Maine

National Average

Average Teacher Salaries by State

$42,689

$52,261

$42,007

$53,076

$57,337

$45,726

$38,864

Source: The Learning State: Maine Schooling for the 21st Century, Select Panel on Revisioning Education in Maine, September 2006

$38,864

$45,726

SCHOOL UNION 98 AVERAGE TEACHER SALARY IS: $45,780.00

5. Governor’s Claim:

• The State of Maine has a very low percentage of students pursuing post secondary education…

Union 98 Response:

• The percent of School Union 98 students attending Mount Desert Island High School who went on to college was over 75% which is higher than any state in the northeast

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

MaineNY MA NJ CT PA USA NH RI VT DE

68.7 56.6 53.1

http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?submeasure=63&year=2002&level=nation&mode=data&state=0

40.8

Maine has a low percentage of students pursuing post-secondary education…% Students Proceeding from High School Directly to College (2004)

MDIHS % of students going on to college is over 75%

How will this proposal change life in School Union 98?

1. For our students:• Average class sizes would increase to

approximately 25:1 (17:1 per FTE) • High probability of reduced elective offerings at

the high school level due to limited resources• Fewer extra-curricular opportunities than are

offered now due to lower individual school funding• School choice for our off-shore island schools

would be reduced if not eliminated at the discretion of the regional board

2. For our Citizens:• School boards would be disbanded and replaced with

one regional board of between 5 to 15 members representing 35 towns. Voting power would be weighted and therefore favor the larger municipalities

• A school advisory council of parents and community members would be allowed for each school to assist the principal in the running if the building but this group would have no voting power in the affairs of the new region

• One budget would be developed for the entire region. No longer would there be strong local input in the development of the budget or the distribution of the funds raised for education to the local schools. Warrant committees and town officials will lose the check and balance system that now helps to justify local education spending

• An individual town would not be allowed to provide additional funds for its local school as is now the practice through the annual town meeting format…only the new region will have this power through it budget development process and the regional annual meeting

• All school buildings that the new region desires to use for school purposes would have their ownership transferred from the municipalities to the new region

• All the balances in school accounts and any reserve funds would be transferred over to the new region

• Any local school construction debt would stay the responsibility of the local municipalities (Union 98 schools currently have approximately 25 million dollars of local debt obligations)

• Any new regional school construction debt would become the responsibility of all of the regional towns

• The regional board would decide if an individual small school will remain open or be closed. A vote of all the towns would be required to close a school. A town could then vote to keep its local school open but would have to pay extra for any costs that would have been saved by the region in closing that school

• Building maintenance, renovation and replacement decisions would be made at the regional level according to a multi-year facilities plan

3. For our teachers:• Contracts would transfer over to the new region for one

year and then a new common regional contract would be negotiated mostly likely resulting in flat or decreased salaries for the teachers presently in our schools

• The increase in the average class size would result in the loss of over 600 jobs statewide…Some of our teachers would therefore be forced to uproot their families and relocate to other areas of the state

• Teachers could be reassigned to any school in the region at the discretion of the regional board

• New teachers would be hired by the regional board and assigned to the local schools as the regional board sees fit…all re-employment decisions would also be made by the regional board

• Special education teachers would take on the responsibilities for Child Development Services for all birth to 6 year old children in the area

4. For our building principals:• A reduction in central office direct support, advise

and consultation • Principals could be reassigned to any school in the

district according to the needs of the schools in the region at the sole discretion of the regional board

• Supervision and evaluation would be drastically reduced

• Added duties once performed by the local superintendent and central office personnel would become the responsibility of the local building administrator

5. For our support staff:

• New salary agreements would be established for all of our local support staff based on regional parameters

• One would expect there to be a reduction in overall staffing levels over time due to the regional consolidation process and budget restraints that would be in place

6. For our central office staff:

• All multi-year contracts at the central office level would be transferred over to the new regional office until they expire…staff would be reassigned duties by the regional board

• Any hourly wage employees would become unemployed on July 1st 2008. They would have to apply for any vacancies that might exist in the new regional office

7. For our island schools:

• Reduced funding levels from the region would dramatically change the staffing level and present grade structures

Other questions and Concerns:• Could we privatize our school system?This would be a very difficult process and would require our towns to raise extra funds to

replace the loss of state subsidy and grant funding in order to maintain the present level of location educational funding

In addition, our teachers would lose their membership in the Maine State Retirement System• Has the governor provided numbers that support the budget savings they are

claiming?There is considerable debate about how or if these savings can actually be achieved • What will administrative staffing look like in the regional office?The level of staffing in the central office will be determined by each new region after it is

formed. One would expect there to be a considerable layer of new middle management administrators to handled the myriad of tasks that would be located at the new regional central office

• Will the citizens get to vote on this proposal?No. This proposal is embedded in the Governor’s proposed budget for the next biennium. The

State Legislature will be the body responsible for changing the existing statutes and approving the new state budget

• What is the rationale for one district with 35 towns?The plan is organized around the existing 26 vocational center districts which already have a

cooperative board in place for planning and budgeting purposes for their regions• Does the essential programs and services formulation the governor uses to calculate

how much we should be providing for tax relief adequately fund education? No. Eighty five percent of the school districts exceed the EPS formula. The governor says that

represents a failure on the part of the schools. However, following the EPS formula would result in drastic cuts in all of our educational programs

HOW SHOULD UNION 98 RESPOND TO THIS INITIATIVE?