What community’s school is next?

The Maine State Board of Education’s decision this week to stop the construction project in SAD 31 did more than just kill one community’s plan for a new high school, it also sent an extremely strong signal that more than half of our state’s student population is at great risk should their school ever need construction funds.

In the Rural School and Community Trust’s recent publication, “Why Rural Matters 2005,” the nonprofit organization ranked Maine as the No. 1 state in the nation for its reliance on rural education. “With more than half of its students and more than 60 percent of its schools in rural areas, Maine ranks highest among the 50 states in terms of rural importance. Well over half of all state dollars spent on education go to Maine’s rural schools.”

In Maine, our rural school districts are characteristically small, but extraordinarily important to the future vitality of our state. Students drop out of large schools at significantly greater rates than they do out of small schools. “The costs to society for students who drop out of high school before graduating are enormous – incalculable in terms of loss of productivity and effects on the individual and members of his or her family. Dropping out of high school influences a person’s health, chances of being on welfare, chances of getting a job, chances of going to prison, and his or her relationships with family members.” (“Dollars & Sense: The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools,” page 12)

It is obvious that pursuing policy that induces these types of side effects will have economic consequences for the entire state not just the respective communities. Perhaps that is why three states recently passed legislation in support of small schools. In 2000, the legislature of Florida (which has some of the nation’s largest schools) passed a bill titled, “Small School Requirements.”

It proclaimed “smaller schools provide benefits of reduced discipline problems and crime, reduced truancy and gang participation, reduced dropout rates, improved teacher and student attitudes, improved student self-perception, student academic achievement equal to or superior to that of students at larger schools, and increased parental involvement. Smaller schools can provide these benefits while not increasing administrative and construction costs.” Maryland and Vermont have passed similar bills.

Perhaps even more importantly though, small schools have been a huge “equalizer” for students from low-income families, a feature of small schools that is absolutely critical in a state like Maine where more than one-third of our students qualify for subsidized meals. Research also shows that there is less violence in small schools than in large schools, students participate in more extracurricular activities in small schools, and more students from small schools go onto post-secondary education.

In the Oct. 13 edition of the Bangor Daily News, the vice chairman of the State Board of Education, Phillip Dionne, was quoted as saying, “School systems with populations of 300 or less [in their high schools] are a thing of the past, at least with this board.” It is unfortunate that this lower limit of 300 students is nothing more than a “magic number” that runs contrary to credible education research. “Ideal upper limits of ‘small size’ for schools with conventionally wide grade spans are as follows: High Schools (9-12) – 75 students per grade level (300 total enrollment).” (“Dollars & Sense: The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools,” page 8)

With the State Board of Education’s stance on providing school construction funding to small schools combined with the uncertainties that Maine’s new Essential Programs and Services funding model provides to Maine’s small schools, one cannot be sure how long Maine’s small schools will be able to survive. And with Penobscot Valley High School’s construction project killed, the only question that remains is, what community’s school is next?

Bradley Saucier is a graduate of Penobscot Valley High School in SAD 31 and is currently a student at the University of Maine Honors College.