March 29, 2024
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Lawmakers to challenge UMS plan

PORTLAND – Several lawmakers plan to challenge the University of Maine System’s consolidation plan during this legislative session.

At least two bills are being drafted to revamp a university plan aiming to close a projected $102 million budget gap over the next five years. But some legislators worry increasing political influence over university consolidation could do more harm than good.

Bills to redraw the University of Maine System surface often. But controversy over the system’s long-range plan has mobilized the system’s critics this year.

The plan calls for consolidating the administration of some campuses and transforming some universities into satellite campuses of other schools.

Lawmakers from the Augusta area are particularly critical of the plan, which would make the University of Maine-Augusta part of the University of Southern Maine.

Some lawmakers say this is the year for the Legislature to seize more influence over the state’s higher-education system.

The Legislature is the best vehicle for the public to get involved in a process that so far has excluded residents, said Sen. Libby Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, who is Senate chair of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee.

“We are talking about a public university and a process where many people feel disenfranchised, particularly in my area,” she said. “Otherwise, there is no real opportunity for the public to have any say in what happened.”

But House Majority Leader Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, said an attempt by the Legislature to “micromanage” the university system would lead to the kind of turf battles that occur in the Legislature over funding K-12 education.

“We ought to de-politicize the higher-education institutions,” he said.

Mitchell is drafting two bills. One would require legislative approval for any major restructuring of the university system, including the current plan. The second would put the University of Maine System and the Community College System under the authority of a single administrator and advisory board.

Both systems would continue to operate autonomously, Mitchell said, but there would be a “superstructure” to allow both systems to plan for the future and eliminate the expensive duplication of services.

Also, Rep. Arthur Lerman, D-Augusta, is drafting a bill to block the plan to make UMaine-Augusta the fourth campus of the University of Southern Maine.

“But the biggest issue is making sure that people in central Maine have access to postsecondary education,” he said.

If anything, Lerman’s and Mitchell’s bills will generate a healthy discussion about the future of higher education, Cummings said. But he noted the Legislature had its say when it confirmed trustees of the university system.

Lerman, who serves on the Appropriations Committee, said the Legislature must take a more active role in the university system’s reorganization because it represents the public and is spending the public’s tax dollars.

“The Legislature funds a significant portion of the budget of the UMaine System,” he said. “The Legislature should be able to have some say in how that system evolves.”


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