March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Education decisions

A compromise in funding for education in the supplemental state budget may allow municipalities to avoid a tax revolt, but could also set back many useful programs created in the last seven years. After the drawn-out debate in the Legislature, perhaps it was inevitable that some difficult funding questions left to be answered will be addressed at the local level.

In a political quid pro quo for freezing state funding for education at 1990 levels through the end of the next biennium in 1993, the budget agreement allows local school boards to defer state mandates dating back to Jan. 1, 1984, until the state restores the funds to pay for the mandated programs. Deferment of these mandates could affect guidance offices, classes for the gifted and talented, classroom size and a dozen other programs designed to raise the quality of education in Maine.

As regrettable as the loss of such programs would be, the fact that they were made part of the budget law at least demonstrates that the Legislature finally has gotten the message about mandates that are ordered without commensurate funding from Augusta. Local tax bills for education already are a burden; further unfunded mandates would have made property taxes prohibitively high.

In a positive note for schools, the 1991 budget agreement will release the 2.25 percent of the third quarter budget frozen by Gov. John McKernan. The small percentage will make a big difference to schools such as the Allagash Consolidated School, which needed $40,000 to remain open. The Allagash school received $30,000 directly from the budget agreement and will receive $10,000 more when its share of the 2.25 percent is released.

Like the practice of new federalism in Washington, Augusta has sent some of its tougher dilemmas to local administration. With their new authority, Maine school boards in the next year or two could set the tone for education in their regions for the rest of the decade. The boards will face greater than normal pressures from both educators who are looking to preserve important programs and from taxpayers who have paid more in property taxes than they ever thought possible.

The local boards face a challenge that perhaps few members considered when they began serving, but it will be their duty to see that the balance between education and its costs is maintained fairly. Few people are going to be happy with whatever decisions the boards make, but when those decisions are made the public would be wise to remember who forced the boards to make them.


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