Ervin: School consolidation plan ‘disastrous’

BANGOR – Superintendent Robert Ervin opened Wednesday’s School Committee meeting by raising the alarm over a cost-saving plan he says could have a “disastrous” effect on the quality of education provided in Bangor’s public schools.

Ervin launched his opening volley in what’s shaping up to be a battle over control of education by asking elected officials, educators and anyone who might be tuning in via the city’s government access cable channel to mark several key meeting dates on their calendars.

The subject of the meetings, set mostly for this and next month, is Gov. John Baldacci’s school unit consolidation plan.

“I could very easily label it disastrous,” Ervin said of the plan, which seeks to save taxpayer dollars through a dramatic reduction in the number of school administrative units.

“The [consolidation] initiative is really picking up speed,” said Ervin, who heads one of the largest school units in the state.

“In fact, the activity is hectic and meetings are being scheduled every single day and new information is coming out every single day. There are some very critical meetings and I hope you will attend,” he said.

The governor’s proposal, unveiled earlier this month during Baldacci’s second inaugural address, is part of his $6.4 billion biennial budget for 2007-09, which means the education component is tied to passage of the budget.

It calls for reducing the number of school administrative districts from 152 to 26, a move that is designed to save taxpayers $250 million over three years.

It also means the Appropriations Committee will review and work on the bill, instead of the Legislature’s Education Committee, a move by Baldacci that Ervin called “unusual” in a memo to School Committee members.

“Clearly, his proposal is a policy, not a budgetary, matter,” Ervin said in the memo. “Nevertheless, it is embedded in the budget, putting the Appropriations Committee in a difficult spot. If they elect to remove ‘cost saving’ portions of the governor’s initiative, they will have to replace the ‘savings’ or rebuild the budget. To date, the governor has demonstrated strenuous and vehement support for his initiative.”

As Ervin sees it, the consolidation plan has a number of harmful implications for local education, including the dismantling of local school boards and the loss of local control over decision-making.

“There are very serious governmental issues. There are very serious financial issues. There are very serious educational issues,” he said.

The “super units” that would be created under the plan would take over the Bangor School Department’s property and assets and cash balances, he said. The units “will not be assuming, however, the debt service” obligations the city’s school department faces.

“In a nutshell, Bangor is going to lose control over its [education] finances,” he said, warning that the end result will be “no more than a bill to the City Council – and they will have to pay.”

The meetings, which are open to the public, will take place as follows:

. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30, Peakes Auditorium, Bangor High School: regional information meeting with the governor and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron.

. 9 a.m. Feb. 5, Augusta Civic Center: Legislative hearing before the Appropriations Committee, and possibly the Education Committee.

. Feb. 5, tentative, Bangor City Hall: joint meeting involving School Committee, City Council, legislative delegation.

. Feb. 8, Peakes Auditorium, BHS: Meeting organized by school superintendents from Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. Gordon Donaldson Jr., professor of education at the University of Maine, will discuss his school consolidation study titled, “Pursuing Administrative Efficiencies for Maine Schools.”

In other meeting business, the four committee members on hand adopted a policy that aims to avoid nepotism on the part of school officials.

The policy got a tentative green light two weeks ago, when it won the committee’s endorsement during its first reading, part one of the panel’s two-step approval process. Wednesday’s second reading and vote to adopt made it official.

Simply put, the policy aims to prevent situations in which school administrators and supervisors are responsible for supervising or evaluating immediate family members. It would not, however, affect existing employees who are immediate family members of School Committee members, administrators and supervisors, who will be grandfathered.

Committee member James Cox said the policy would reinforce the public’s faith in the school department’s hiring process, which has generated some talk in the community in recent months.

Committee Chairwoman Martha Newman said she was comfortable with the policy because it will continue to allow school officials to hire “the best possible candidates for the job.”