Report gives examples of ways school districts can collaborate

BANGOR – Neighborly cooperation is the theme of a new report which aims to help school districts around the state work together to contain costs and improve education.

Released Wednesday by the Maine Children’s Alliance, the report offers examples of successful regional collaborations among school districts and recommends ways that the Legislature, the Maine Department of Education and the State Board of Education can provide support so that similar alliances can happen down the road.

New and expanded forms of cooperation are needed, according to the report, because of a projected decline in enrollment of 23,000 students during the next five years and because Maine’s school costs are well above the national average while teacher salaries are far below. Meanwhile, expectations for learning and achievement continue to increase.

“Maine has had effective models for cooperation in the past, but the process of implementing them has been incomplete and has now fallen into disuse,” the report stated.

The Maine Children’s Alliance is a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for sound public policies to improve the lives of Maine’s children, youth and families. The organization is composed of business, education and community leaders.

Its new report aims to encourage school districts to share teachers and programs and to collaborate on such things as transportation, special education, purchasing, maintenance and collective bargaining. By reducing per-pupil costs, schools can put money back into their educational programs.

Recommendations in the study, titled “A Case for Cooperation: Making Connections to Improve Education for All Maine Students,” include:

. Creating a model statewide school calendar that can be adopted at the local level to help schools coordinate schedules.

. Adopting new rules for membership in regional school districts so that the standard is educational adequacy, not financial convenience.

. Rewriting the rules for the state school construction program to encourage larger minimum sizes for new schools.

. Creating school planning councils to explore regional options for schools.

. Eliminating numbers for regional school districts and naming them instead so people feel a sense of ownership and identity.

The Maine Children’s Alliance will organize conversations and meetings to support communities as they make plans to collaborate, Elinor Goldberg, president and chief executive officer, said during a Wednesday meeting in Bangor during which education, business and community leaders discussed the new publication.

The report touts as a model one of the oldest and most successful collaborations, called the Penobscot River Educational Partnership. Formed in 1996, PREP consists of school systems in Hampden (SAD 22), Milford (Union 90), Orrington (Union 91), Orono (Union 87), Brewer, Bucksport, Indian Island and the University of Maine. Working together, they provide guidance and special education services, science programs and staff development.

Emil Genest, SAD 22 assistant superintendent, said the group’s decision to hire an executive director helped ensure success. “It takes money to save money,” he told the group.

With the Taxpayers Bill of Rights coming up for a vote in November, the idea of collaboration is more important than ever, Jack Rosser, chairman of the Maine Children’s Alliance board of directors, said.

The approach taken by his group “doesn’t hurt anybody, it doesn’t shut down schools,” he said. “If the tax cap wins, we’ll have to do this. If it doesn’t win, people will say, ‘well, what are we going to do?”‘

Discussions are taking place about the legislation needed to support the proposals, he added.

Meeting participants seemed pleased with the new report.

Richard Gould, executive director of the Maine Small Schools Coalition, acknowledged that his group is fighting to keep schools open.

“But we recognize it’s time to join together to provide services for kids,” he said. “The report will help convince people that we need to change the way we’re doing business.”