AUGUSTA – A special legislative panel plans to reach out to the public during its deliberations on the potential for regionalizing school districts.

Members of the Committee on Regionalization and Community Cooperation heard Friday from state education officials and school administrators about the various benefits and problems surrounding regionalization.

After the meeting, committee co-chairman Rep. Janet McLaughlin, D-Cape Elizabeth, urged members to “think of people to bring in” to the discussion, especially school, municipal and business officials.

McLaughlin told members that she also plans to get the committee “out of Augusta” for face-to-face meetings with the public on the issue.

The special panel was launched by the legislative leadership last week in anticipation of having to deal with school regionalization bills that will be submitted by Gov. John Baldacci within the next few weeks.

The bills will be written based on results of a recently completed study by the Task Force on Increasing Efficiency and Equity in the Use of K-12 Education Resources. The task force spent nine months reviewing the state’s K-12 system.

The task force determined that the Maine’s 285 school districts were too many. The task force found that the state averages one school district for every 750 students, one administrator for every 200 students, and one school board member for every 115 students.

With costs of education running higher and school enrollments on the decline, the task force proposed that schools consider forming regional cooperatives that would allow them to share programs and reduce costs. The panel also recommended the creation of regional school districts that would merge smaller districts into larger units.

In his legislation, the governor is expected to offer incentives to those schools that agree to form cooperatives or band together into regional districts.

“We are looking at increasing costs and a rather steep decline in student population,” task force Vice Chairman David Silvernail, of the University of Southern Maine, told the committee.

Committee members were skeptical that consolidation would address the issue.

While they agreed that creative ways were needed to address the growing cost of education, some doubted that targeting small schools was the way to go.

Rep. Glen Cummings, D-Portland, pointed out that while small, rural schools have greater numbers of students from low-income families, they also appear to more than hold their own with larger schools both on testing results and graduation rates.

“It seems to me smaller-size school districts are doing a better job of student achievement,” said Cummings. “They have two times as many poor children, and yet they do just as well.”

SAD 4 Superintendent Paul Stearns cautioned the committee against lumping all small schools together. He said his students continue to perform at high levels despite having the lowest cost per pupil in the state.

Stearns said there is little correlation between school size and student achievement. He said management of school districts should be looked at case by case.

“You don’t keep everybody in for recess just because a few people have done a bad thing,” Stearns said.

Members also noted the disparity of property values from one district to another. Because the school subsidy is based on property values, poorer districts would be reluctant to join with their more wealthy neighbors, said Rep. Thomas Murphy, R-Kennebunk.

“If you smell salt water or have got a river or a lake, no one wants to touch you. Until we address valuation, we have excluded a number of units that would want to come together on their own,” Murphy said.

Task force member James Rier, Department of Education policy director, said student enrollment has declined statewide over the past decade and is expected to continue to drop dramatically in the years to come. Rier forecast that unless the state assists communities with planning, they will continue to dig in their heels over the issue of local control.

Rier said the challenges to communities will continue to expand as enrollments decline. Without planning for jobs and a growing economy, families will move from declining districts and inequality will worsen, he said.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” he said. “There needs to be comprehensive guidance from the department and the state. It’s not about whether we’re going to close this school and build that one.”

The committee will continue its briefing sessions when it meets next week.