Bookmark & share:

E-mail this page E-mail a letter to the editor Reader Comments (below)

By KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer 09/19/2007

Board members held a special meeting Tuesday to consider what to do now that the state has rejected Augusta's intent to remain on its own rather than consolidate with another local school system.

They said they're willing to go along with Education Commissioner Susan Gendron's proposal for the Department of Education to convene a meeting of school officials from Augusta and three other local school systems to further explore regionalization.

But board members said they need it to happen soon, to give time for a plan to be formulated. A Dec. 1 deadline mandates that school systems must tell the state who they will consolidate with, or must file an alternative plan stating why they should be allowed to stand alone.

Augusta school officials also want the state to provide clear information on the ground rules used to measure whether consolidation makes sense for Augusta, and give assurances that that measuring stick won't be changed -- even if the numbers indicate Augusta is better off on its own.

"It seems, to date, both (local school officials and the state) are pointing out the shortcomings of the other, and it hasn't been that productive," board Chairman William Burney said Tuesday. "I hope we can advance in a way that is positive, and the ground rules are established.

"I think it's fair and reasonable to ask them to establish the ground rules, and live by them," Burney said.

Before Augusta filed its letter, local and state officials disagreed over the figures Augusta should use when estimating the impact on taxpayers of a potential consolidation between Augusta and School Administrative District 11, which has schools in Gardiner, West Gardiner, Randolph and Pittston.

Superintendent Cornelia Brown said her office's calculations indicated, due in large part to differences in property values within the two districts, Augusta taxpayers would have to pay more than $560,000 more per year to merge with SAD 11.

State officials disagreed, and said their analysis indicated it would only cost Augusta an additional $27,000 to combine with SAD 11.

Burney and others have suggested the state needs to be clearer in what sort of financial analysis should be done.

In addition to claiming that Augusta's letter was filed without a complete financial analysis, Gendron also has indicated Augusta's letter was rejected because the state believes Augusta does not have at least 2,500 students under its plan to stand alone.

Schools with at least 2,500 students are exempt from consolidation requirements.

The state says Augusta has 2,386 students it can count toward the total.

Brown has claimed Augusta has 2,516 students -- if the 130 students between ages 16 and 20 who receive their education via adult-education programs run by Augusta schools are counted. Board member Richard Barnes said Augusta is financially responsible for those students and state statutes seem to indicate they should be counted.

Board member Kim Silsby, also a state representative, said a proposed new district of Richmond, Dresden, Monmouth and Hall-Dale schools would have only around 1,900 students. But Silsby says their letter of intent was accepted by the state.

Gendron said the state Department of Education will convene a meeting with representatives from Augusta; SAD 11; School Union 132, Chelsea, Whitefield and Jefferson; and School Union 133, Palermo, Somerville and Windsor, to explore consolidation possibilities.

"We need to put the (Department of Education) on notice we stand ready, willing and able to continue this conversation, but there is an urgency on this, we can't afford to wait," board member William Stokes said. "The commissioner is telling us, and others, to sit down and talk and get specific about whether this will work. We're trying to say, 'Let's get it on. Let's do it.'"

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

Bookmark and share this story: