By KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer Sunday, January 21, 2007

Currently, those schools are overseen by 11 superintendents.

If Gov. John Baldacci's plan to slash the number of school districts from 290 to 26 is approved, those 11 central Maine superintendents would be replaced by just one superintendent in charge of a new regional district.

Where Baldacci sees the potential for $250 million in savings over three years by drastically cutting school administrative costs, local school leaders see school districts that would be too large and impersonal, without representation for all residents, and without strong local identities, all formed without input from the schools themselves.

And, some say, good luck if you're a parent of one of the 12,052 students in the central Maine regional "super district," and you want to talk to the superintendent about a problem your child is having in school.

"Can one person do that job?" School Administrative District 11 Superintendent Paul Knowles said from his office in Gardiner.

"No way. In a regional super district, would you ever get to see me, the superintendent? Probably not, unless it's an extremely litigious situation.

"Quality leadership is based on building relationships. The bigger the system, the further you get away from that," Knowles said.

"This plan guts the leadership. It is so ill-advised and so radical I'm not sure anybody has thought this out."

TOO MANY MANAGERS

Baldacci and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron, however, say Maine has too many administrators and spends too much money on administration, which leaves less money to be spent in the classroom.

"Maine has one administrator for every 393 students" Gendron recently told the state Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. The national average, she said, is one administrator for every 816 students. "We need to look at how we can ensure we're keeping the dollars in the classroom."

Maine is typically in the top 10 in the country in per pupil spending, currently spending $10,145 per student, compared with the national average of $8,248.

Yet the state ranks 35th in the nation with average teacher salaries of $38,864, compared with the national average of $45,726.

And, Gendron said, education spending accounts for nearly 47 percent of the proposed $5.7 billion state general fund budget.

The state now has 290 school districts, overseen by 152 superintendents, 1,800 school board members, and 200,000 kindergarten to grade 12 students.

Under Baldacci's proposal, the state would have just 26 superintendents and 26 school boards, each with between five and 15 board members. The 26 proposed districts are based upon the same 26 regions of the state's existing regional technical centers. In the Augusta-Gardiner area, for example, high school students from 23 municipalities can attend courses, including automotive technology, nursing and video production, at Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta.

LOSING A VOICE?

Gendron said the representation on the new regional boards would be determined by the school boards that exist now in those regions. Some educators are skeptical that those school boards, each representing a single municipality, would be able to agree on the composition of the new regional school boards.

Especially since, as is the case in the capital region, many districts encompass more than 15 municipalities -- the maximum spots allotted to the proposed regional school boards. In other words, not every municipality would have a representative on the board.

"Litchfield is in the same region as Lewiston-Auburn," said Education Committee member Rep. Elaine Makas, D-Lewiston. "What is to keep, in terms of centralization and board members, places like Auburn overwhelming some of the small communities like Litchfield?"

Gendron said school board members would have to represent the interests of all students in their region, not just those of their home municipality.

"It really does require training and commitment to look at the broader region," Gendron said. "It depends on (board members) looking out for all the students in your region, not just your community."

The capital region would consolidate administration for 43 schools, including Somerville Elementary School in the town of Somerville, population 509, and the seven schools in the city of Augusta, population 18,319.

"What you're doing as a state policy is coupling together different communities, and forcing them into mega-districts," said Augusta Superintendent Cornelia Brown.

"You're pushing together a Community School District (Maranacook), a city like Augusta, SADs like SAD 16 (Hall-Dale), and unions like Union 132 (Chelsea, Whitefield and Jefferson) and saying, 'You're all one big community now.' "

Brown, agreeing with other superintendents, said the plan was made with little input from school officials.

She described the process so far as "putting the cart before the horse."

JOBS WOULD BE LOST

Gendron, however, says the groundwork for Baldacci's plan came from three 2006 reports that were based on extensive research and information-gathering from schools.

Each of the reports -- by the state Board of Education's Select Panel on Revisioning Education in Maine, the Maine Children's Alliance, and the Brookings Institution -- recommended Maine dramatically reduce what it spends on school administration.

The governor's plan is expected to go before the Legislature this session and, if approved, the new districts could be operational by July 2008, Gendron said.

"The timeline, I will acknowledge, is aggressive," she said.

The elimination of so many central administrations would leave many workers -- not just superintendents -- without a job.

The state Department of Education said 1,255 people now work in central administration across the state. About 500 of them are administrators, including superintendents, business managers and curriculum coordinators, and another 755 are clerical workers and bookkeepers.

And part of Baldacci's plan would increase middle and high school classes sizes funded by the state from 16 students per teacher to 17. That would result in the elimination of about 650 teaching jobs, though Gendron said most of those jobs could be eliminated through attrition, such as teacher retirement. Gendron said the Department of Education already has been in contact with the Department of Labor regarding helping displaced workers.

"This absolutely would eliminate positions," Gendron said. "You can't go from 152 (central offices) to 26 without that."

In Augusta, 22 people could have their jobs eliminated if the district were eliminated. SAD 11, which includes Gardiner, West Gardiner, Randolph and Pitt-ston, employs 14 central office staff members.

TOO MUCH, TOO FAST

Kathy Paradee, chairwoman of the SAD 11 Board of Directors, said information about the proposal has been hard to come by. She is interested in reducing school administrative costs but worries Baldacci's plan moves too fast and has too many unanswered questions.

"We need to have a good conversation about consolidation of services or districts," Paradee said. "I'm not sure 26 is the magic number. But I'm sure there are some areas where school districts could save."

Paradee noted SAD 11 already buys fuel in a regional consortium of other schools and the city of Gardiner, and in recent years closed an elementary school in Gardiner because of shrinking student population, and reconfigured two other elementary schools in an effort to be more efficient. The district held several meetings with the public before the school changes, and, she said, the state should also seek public input before replacing its 290 school districts with just 26.

"I think we've done a good job and we're talking to other school districts right now," Paradee said. "We've tried in the past. But there hasn't been a lot of incentive from the state previously. And it's hard to get people to agree to give up local control if there is no incentive."

Baldacci has noted school districts in other states are much larger than those in Maine, and even larger than those proposed to be created in the 26 regional districts, which would range from 1,800 to 20,000 students each.

Knowles, however, said the administrative model used in larger states is an urban model, based upon a level of middle management within school systems that doesn't exist in Maine, except in the Portland area.

"They have a level of middle management you don't have in these smaller districts," he said. "Here, superintendents wear many hats."

Knowles said regional districts also would diminish the identity students have of themselves as being from a certain school system where they have established roots. In a large district, he said, students could feel they are just a number.

He said most superintendents would be open to considering changing how schools are overseen, but only after input from schools and the public.

"None of us would tell you there's not room for improvement," Knowles said. "But it takes work. It takes bringing communities together. You just can't do this in two months. It takes time. It takes leadership."

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com