Shuffling programs deals $5.1M in aid to education

AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci has come up with an additional $5.1 million for general purpose aid for education after rejiggering several accounts.

Finance Commissioner Rebecca Wyke said Monday the state could capture $1 million by recalculating the debt service account; $1.9 million by merging a program for preschool children with disabilities with public schools; and $2.2 million from the elimination of a state-funded science and technology organization.

The Legislature will decide whether to channel the money into the general education funding formula or the cushion for 2004 that protects school systems from sharp drops in local aid, she said. Fiscal year 2005 remains unchanged in the governor’s proposed budget.

The additional education money would bring the total in the first year of the budget to just over $732 million.

Gov. Baldacci proposed the changes to his $5.3 billion budget on Sunday after meeting with members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee.

Holding the Children’s Development Services program in-school instead of using outside facilities would save $700,000 in the first biennium and $1.2 million the second year, according to Wyke. The program is paid for through federal funds, she said.

The 20-year-old Maine Science and Technology Foundation hopes to separate from the state, transfer some of its programs to the Department of Economic and Community Development, and become a public-private partnership known as the Science, Technology and Innovation Alliance, according to president Michael Ryan.

The foundation was created 20 years ago to stimulate economic growth by applying science and technology in education, research and business.

The new alliance would support Maine science and technology enterprises, host conferences on research and development opportunities, and form partnerships to help develop high-tech industry, Ryan said.

“In tough times, we’re saying we can be more successful independent of state appropriations,” he said.