By KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer Wednesday, March 14, 2007

They did. And they rejected it, deciding that leaving it up to school districts to decide whether they should consolidate with each other wouldn't guarantee real savings fast enough, if at all.

Gendron told the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that, if cuts can't be found in administration and other noninstructional areas, the price for the rising cost of education could be paid by Maine's children, in the classroom.

"We looked at collaboration but chose to recommend consolidation," Gendron said in a briefing to the Appropriations Committee. "We believe that is the right direction to go to achieve sustainability for the long term.

"My concern is, if we don't address the noninstructional components, it starts to erode the instructional program. I'm concerned about the impact on the child in the classroom."

Last week, the Education Committee presented a plan to force Maine school districts to collaborate with each other to find ways to save funds. After a year of collaboration, districts with less than 1,200 students would be expected to consolidate with other districts to reach at least that size. However, consolidating with other districts would have to be approved by local voters.

Education Committee members believe their plan could save $36.5 million a year. Skeptics have questioned that sum.

Gendron said that there is no way to know exactly how many schools would consolidate -- or how much money that would save -- but noted that local voters, who would have to approve the consolidations, are often reluctant to approve mergers of their school systems with others.

That's why, she said, the governor's plan makes consolidation mandatory. Baldacci's plan would force Maine's 290 school districts to consolidate to just 26 by next year.

David L. Silvernail, director of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute at the University of Southern Maine, said although there are not very many studies of school consolidation savings, the studies he found indicate consolidation could save between 7 and 9 percent of expenditures.

A study of Maine school systems conducted by Silvernail's office in 2004 found the most efficient Maine schools had 2,500 to 3,000 students.

The Education Committee, earlier in its deliberations, initially suggested setting a minimum school district size of 2,500 but changed that level to 1,200 in its final report.

One thing Gendron and Appropriations Committee members agreed on Tuesday: Maine's current educational system -- with declining student enrollments and increasing numbers of administrators -- is not sustainable.

"At some point, if we don't get people to put their special interests aside, we're going to start hurting our children," said Committee Co-chairman Rep. Jeremy Fischer, D-Presque Isle. "Efficiency has to come from somewhere."

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com