Review K-12 efficiency

Having read your editorial applauding the role of Keith Ober (BDN, Aug. 4) as a joint superintendent for both Millinocket and Union 113 (which includes East Millinocket, Medway and Woodville), I would like to make the following comments.

It it is costing $10,000 a student, according to the approved Millinocket school budget divided by the enrollment figures. This seems to represent an appropriate $2,500-a-student cost over and above the state average. Even with a new superintendent, shouldn’t our town be able to show a reduction in per-student costs?

Also noted in your editorial is the low pay for new teachers. Does that imply we should shift costs from administration to the teaching staff? Although we may rank 48th in the nation for new teachers’ wages, how about comparing the average Maine income to other states and the and the average cost to local taxpayers for education?

Comparisons and percentages can be skewed in any direction unless all the figures are accounted for. And let us not forget that our teachers receive many benefits that our nonschool work force must pay for out of pocket – health care benefits being one of them.

Hopefully, Gov. Baldacci’s task force will take some of these factors into consideration when it attempts to review the efficiency of the state’s K-12 educational system.

Alyce Maragus

Millinocket