By ELIZABETH COMEAU
Staff Writer Sunday, April 15, 2007

Halfway through the night, you get antsy.

You're itching to find your own dance partner, but you don't want to upset the hostess.

Do you cut loose or do you wait by the sidelines?

That's the conundrum several neighboring central Maine towns are facing regarding school consolidation.

Gov. John Baldacci has proposed slashing school administration costs by dramatically cutting the number of school districts in the state -- there are 290. The proposal, which the governor estimated would save $36 million annually, is now being molded by legislators, who are having a hard time deciding how many districts to create.

In the meantime, school officials are trying to figure out who they'd like their partners to be.

Instead of being wallflowers, the neighboring school districts for Readfield, Fayette, Mount Vernon, Wayne, Manchester, Monmouth, Winthrop, Turner, Livermore Falls, Jay, Hallowell and Farmingdale have begun to examine their dance card options.

In talks held Monday night, local school board members tried to figure out what information they need to go forward.

"The state is mandating that we form relationships with other districts," said John Mitchell, chairman of the Winthrop school board. "We're all on the same page and understand relationships have to be formed, but prior to us doing that, we have to gather some information. And we have to be comfortable with one another."

The information school officials need includes student population figures, town valuation numbers, data on the number and condition of school buildings, proximity and transportation options, if existing relationships could be expanded, the amount of each district's debt, school calendars and what high school or technical centers exist in the region .

"It's a very slow process," Mitchell said. "The districts are very unique and always had their way of doing things. Many have shared services or facilities, but now we're told we need to do this and ramp it up quite a bit."

Mitchell said the group also discussed the trouble they and other school officials are having because information surrounding school consolidation is "a moving target."

Unlike Gov. Baldacci's controversial proposal, the plan now being discussed does not choose which school units would be grouped into larger, consolidated districts.

Instead, the plan directs Education Commissioner Susan Gendron to present by June 30 one or more models on which to base grouping schools into districts.

The proposed new districts would be formed based on factors that included proximity to each other, demographics and population density, and maximizing existing collaborations.

After the Department of Education releases its recommended districts, temporary "realignment steering committees" would be formed to get on with the work of actually creating the new districts.

The proposal needs approval from the full Legislature and Baldacci.

"We don't know what the actual numbers will be," Mitchell said. "Right now, we're hearing 2,500. But in three to five years, will that be the number to plan for? What will happen down the road? We need to ask those questions and have an open dialogue."

Union 42 Chairwoman Holly Stevenson said the true purpose of the consolidation talks among neighboring districts "is to determine if these are realistic mergers."

"Our job is to figure out who makes the most sense for us to try to consolidate with, and it gets pretty sticky pretty fast because you realize there's a great economic factor involved," Stevenson said.

As an example, teachers' salaries are not uniform across the various towns. Therefore, if two schools join together -- one of which has lower teacher salaries -- does that town have to bring its teachers' pay up to match the other schools in the district? Or, will salaries and contracts remain at a certain point for an amount of time after the school districts consolidate, with new contracts negotiated after consolidation?

Those, Stevenson said, are the types of questions the group is wrestling with.

"We did touch on different things the state could do that wouldn't affect our schools as negatively as a consolidation, such as a statewide teacher salary or curriculum," she said.

Aside from all the variables, the school officials said they're simply trying to wrap their arms around all of the different options -- consolidation or not -- and then present that information to their communities.

"We hope we can make this worthwhile for the students in the community," said David Walker, chairman of the Monmouth School Committee during a school committee meeting last week.

"With any luck, with these discussions we're discovering alignments that could gain us savings. And regardless of the outcome, no matter how this comes out, that's a good thing."

The group is scheduled to meet again the week of April 23.

Elizabeth Comeau -- 623-3811, Ext. 433

ecomeau@centralmaine.com