Although the legislative session which began Wednesday could be brief, the Education Committee is slated to tackle a host of weighty issues, including school choice, consolidation and construction, and the restructuring of the Department of Education.
In addition to a handful of new bills and seven bills carried over from the last session, the committee also will receive reports from a number of commissions and task forces.
The committee got right down to work Wednesday by meeting with Education Commissioner Wayne Mowatt to discuss the department’s redesign, the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, and the Division of Child Development Services.
Mike Higgins, the committee’s staff person, predicted that these three issues will consume much of the education panel’s time during the winter session.
Sen. Mary Small, co-chairwoman of the committee, said the panel will start right off with hearings on a plan to redesign the education department, which has been presented to a subcommittee of the Productivity Realization Task Force. The Bath Republican said the committee would like to be apprised of how the department’s mission will change.
Small said hearings on the Baxter School also would be held shortly. A committee set up to study the operations of the state-run school last year recommended changes in financing the operation. Last month, however, the education commissioner announced that $1 million would be cut from the school’s budget. This prompted Rep. George Kerr, D-Old Orchard Beach, to introduce a bill during November’s special legislative session that would prohibit any changes to the Baxter School until after March 1. A hearing on Kerr’s bill has been scheduled for Jan. 11.
The Division of Child Development Services, which administers programs for handicapped preschoolers, also has become controversial. Portland area programs have been plagued by management problems that could prompt the Department of Education to present legislation later in the session to revamp the division.
Next week, the Task Force on Learning Results is scheduled to present its final report to the committee. A spokesman for Gov. Angus King said the governor would endorse the task force’s recommendations while adding a few items of his own.
Dennis Bailey said the governor would support the task force’s expected recommendation that performance be measured as students progress through school. Stopping short of requiring students to pass an exam to graduate from high school, King has said that students should live up to standards set by the state.
Bailey said the governor will also push for consolidation of school services to reduce duplication, and for greater use of technology in the state’s schools.
He said the governor is still working on his legislative package, which will be announced officially during his State of the State address later this month.
The three C’s — choice, charter schools and consolidation — are the top priorities of the Maine School Superintendents Association, President Paul Johnson said. At its Jan. 18 meeting, the group will take positions on those three issues, he said.
The Berwick superintendent also said the association is keeping a close eye on finance and construction issues.
“It should be an interesting session,” he said.
The committee will take up two of the C’s — choice and charter schools — and another controversial issue, referendum votes on school budgets Jan. 10. All three issues were held over from the last legislative session when much of the committee’s time was taken up with revamping the school funding formula.
Although much support has been voiced for a bill sponsored by Sen. Jane Amero, R-Cape Elizabeth, that would allow parental choice among public schools, there is no unanimity of opinion among committee members, Small said.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Al Barth, R-Bethel, that would allow for the creation of charter schools also lacks strong backing on the committee. Charter schools are public, locally self-governed schools with their own boards of directors and not governed by the state, and created by parents, teachers or other groups.
The Maine School Management Association, which represents superintendents and school board members, and Maine Education Association, the state’s teachers union, last year voiced serious reservations about both bills.
While the committee is slated to consider a holdover bill sponsored by William Reed, R-Dexter, limiting the number of referendum votes on school budgets to three, some members don’t feel it is the Legislature’s role to dictate local budget policy.
The education committee expects a report on consolidation, one of the governor’s professed education priorities, from a State Board of Education subcommittee. Two holdover bills, both sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, deal with consolidation. One calls for the creation of regional cooperatives, in which school districts would band together to negotiate teacher contracts, purchase supplies and share services. The other would use state school construction funds as a carrot to encourage school consolidation.
Another controversial holdover bill would require criminal record checks of job applicants and those applying for certification or recertification in positions requiring contact with children.
The new bills to be considered by the committee include a proposal to establish the Maine School for Visual and Performing Arts in Portland and another to clarify the distribution of funding for the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone.
A bill which will be handled by the Taxation Committee would provide a $500 tax credit to middle class families with children in college. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tom Davidson, D-Brunswick, said the tax break is needed in the wake of proposed federal cutbacks in federal student aid.
Comments
comments for this post are closed