AUGUSTA -- A Newport lawyer wants to try to overturn the state law that mandates school district consolidation -- but he can't use the people's veto to do it.

Kenneth Fredette filed a request Friday with the Secretary of State's Office seeking to collect signatures for a people's veto.

But Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Monday that state law doesn't allow Fredette to try to overturn the law by people's veto, which gives citizens 90 days from the time the Legislature adjourns to gather signatures for a citizen vote on a measure passed by lawmakers.

That's because the school district consolidation plan is within the state budget, which was passed as an emergency measure by lawmakers with a two-thirds vote.

Once it was signed by the governor, it became law. "The people's veto is to prevent a bill from becoming enacted," Dunlap said.

Most bills aren't passed as an emergency, and take 90 days from the time the Legislature adjourns to go into effect.

That was the case in 1997 and 2005, when the Christian Civic League of Maine led the two most recent people's veto efforts.

In 1997, voters agreed with the League and voted to overturn a law that banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In 2005, voters upheld a similar law passed by legislators.

If he chooses, Fredette could seek to repeal the law by gathering signatures for a citizen initiative. That would give him up to a year to collect the 55,087 signatures needed to call for a citizen vote.

Fredette said the school district consolidation bill has such aggressive timelines that waiting for a citizen vote in June 2008 or later doesn't make sense.

By January, cities and towns are supposed to vote on consolidation plans.

"By the time you get through the process, half of what's on the legislative side of the plan is already in place," said Fredette, who works in Newport and lives in Lamoine.

That means he will likely try to work with legislators to introduce a bill in January to revise the law, he said.

The school district consolidation piece of the two-year, $6.3 billion state budget was by far the most controversial piece of the package.

After much negotiation and many changes, the plan calls for the number of school districts in the state to be reduced from 290 to about 80.

Democrats and Republicans supported the measure.

State education officials believe cutting the number of districts will save money on administration that would then be reinvested into the classroom. The changes are projected to save $36 million.

Despite support at the Statehouse, many people -- especially in smaller towns -- have expressed concern about how it will affect their communities.

Fredette, who grew up in rural Maine, said he worries that some small towns won't have a representative on new regional school boards.

"When it comes time to close or merge schools and you don't have a person on the school board, it doesn't take much to see what's going to happen," he said.

Fredette, who ran for the state Senate as a Republican and lost in 2006, said the sweeping reforms in the school district consolidation plan shouldn't have been part of the state budget.

Although he agrees with Dunlap's interpretation of the state constitution, he said he's not happy that he won't be able to launch a signature drive to overturn the law.

"A people's veto is exactly that," he said. "It's a process to empower the people to say we don't necessarily agree with what's been done here."

One group will be able to collect signatures for a people's veto this year. Former Rep. Stavros Mendros of Lewiston submitted an application to try to overturn the law that calls for a citizen vote on the extension of legislative term limits.

The Secretary of State's Office has 10 days to provide petitions and write a question for Mendros to circulate, said spokesman Don Cookson.

Susan Cover -- 623-1056

scover@centralmaine.com