By KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer Thursday, February 01, 2007

enlarge Staff photo by Andy Molloy

Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, second from left, confers with Augusta City Manager Bill Bridgeo, third from right, during a forum Wednesday at Cony High School to discuss the Baldacci administration's proposal to consolidate school districts in Maine.

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Instead, what is likely to emerge from the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee for the full Legislature to consider is a single bill combining pieces of the other bills, Gov. John Baldacci's proposal included, into a single bill from the committee.

"The Education Committee is going to take the best of all these ideas and bring a bill forward," said Rep. Kim Silsby, D-Augusta, sponsor of one of six bills proposing to consolidate school administration in Maine. "Report after report after report is saying this is what we need to do. The talk is not if, it's how."

What was originally scheduled as a public "listening session," of the Augusta legislative delegation at Cony High School on Wednesday turned into a discussion between legislators and local school and city officials because those are the only people who showed up. Each of the 11 attendees was affiliated either with the legislature, a local school, or the city of Augusta.

So they sat down together to debate and discuss the merits and hazards of consolidating school administration and what may emerge from this legislative session.

"My hope is you don't get out of this session without a solution in place," said Augusta Mayor Roger Katz. "There is a natural resistance from local school boards and superintendents who have a stake in the status quo. If you can figure out a way to save money without giving up some local control, you ought to get the Nobel Peace Prize."

Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth "Libby" Mitchell said something will likely have to give to bring about change, and Maine cannot afford to spend as much on school administration per student as it is now.

"We have fewer students and more administrators," said Mitchell, a longtime member of the Education Committee. "That's not sustainable."

The Education Committee is holding a day-long hearing Feb. 5 at the Augusta Civic Center to take testimony on the proposals to consolidate school administration. Mitchell said the Education Committee would likely meet for at least a week straight after the Feb. 5 hearing in an effort to agree on a school consolidation bill. She was hopeful the committee could have a bill put forward by the end of February.

She warned that other proposals will also need to come up with savings, because Baldacci's plan is built into the proposed budget and uses the approximately $65 million he expects it to save to fund other programs and help balance the budget. She also said opponents to the various proposed bills should focus on what they want to see in legislation, not what is wrong with the other bills.

"Don't waste your airtime talking about what is bad," she said. "Tell us, if not this way, then what do you think works? We're looking for a way to decrease administrative costs, improve the quality of our kids' education, and decrease the tax burden. It has to do all three."

Superintendent Cornelia Brown warned that forcing school districts together could affect long held community identities.

"Communities have a culture and an identity which, often, are both associated with the quality of their schools," she said. "I'm uncertain individuals are ready to be coupled together with other communities that may not share the same values they have."

Winslow School Committee Member Joel Selwood urged legislators to do what was best, not what was expeditious.

City Manager William Bridgeo, while skeptical one superintendent would be able to manage all the principals and schools in some of the large, 26 new school districts taking the place of the 290 Maine has now, said it would make sense for both school and municipal government to work with their neighboring governments.

He suggested all schools and municipalities in the state go out to bid together to purchase things like books, buses, police cars and fire trucks, thus getting a better, bulk, price.

"It's nuts the way every municipality, whether they need two police cars or 20, does its own thing," Bridgeo said. "I just think it's a lack of creativity. A case of the pressure not being on."

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com