BUDGET AS POLICY

Gov. John Baldacci officially released his budget for the next biennium Friday, after hinting what would be in it Wednesday during his inaugural address. The surprise then was that he planned to reduce the number of school districts in Maine from 152 to 26. On Friday, he revealed his leverage: The budget, with college-tuition help and laptops in high school among other education increases, doesn’t balance without the savings from redistricting.

The districts envisioned by the Baldacci administration would range in size from 1,800 students to 19,000, based on the current career technical center regions. Regional school boards would vary in size based on the size of the district. The change would speed up and expand the trend toward cooperation among districts such as sharing resources and planning new construction jointly. It would also put a principal in every school and add a basic staff to every superintendent’s office. In a separate proposal, it would raise the student-teacher ratio in the state funding model and press local districts to both follow the new ratio and return saved tax dollars to residents.

Education is one of two major pieces of the budget; the other is health care, and the governor was just as bold there as in education. He wants to convert Medicaid into a managed-care system, a proposal that ran into controversy when the Department of Health and Human Services began that process with behavioral health last year. Just as important and nearly as controversial, the budget would standardize rates paid to providers and put them in line with the New England average. If nothing else, this will prompt a useful discussion about health care costs, although it is certain to produce plenty of emotion too.

The noncontroversial part of the governor’s budget provides increases to higher education, $14.4 million to the University of Maine System; $11.7 million to the Community College System; $2.1 million to Maine Maritime Academy. The money isn’t all that’s needed at these institutions, but it is a substantial jump.

By packing so much policy into his budget, Gov. Baldacci makes his $6.4 billion biennial spending plan the centerpiece of all debate in the Legislature this winter. He has included tough, necessary ideas to yank Maine away from its unaffordable level of spending. His challenge now is to persuade lawmakers that these risks are the best path to prosperity.