Like most Mainers, my grade school and high school years are far behind me. That’s because, by median age, Maine is the oldest state. I’m concerned that too many of us are thinking about education reform from the perspective of long ago. Instead of looking realistically at the road ahead, too many are seeking the future in a rear view mirror.

For four years we’ve debated school spending. A referendum promised lower property taxes if the state share of local school aid increased. The referendum passed, state education aid rose, and overall property tax growth fell – but not enough.

Maine people want real change, not tinkering. If we don’t embrace reform, I’m afraid we’ll lose the character of our state. Paradoxically, we’ll lose cherished values by clinging to old ways of preserving them.

In 1957, when Maine last consolidated school administrations, I was 4 years old. My parents had one car, a Rambler. Leaded gas cost 30 cents per gallon (still a bargain at $1.55 per gallon in today’s dollars). We didn’t worry about air pollution. Besides, we didn’t drive far. To visit my father’s parents in Boston we drove for eight hours from Bangor – no highway, yet, that far north. My mother’s relatives supported three families from a 100-cow dairy farm. We had a party-line rotary phone and a black-and-white television with rabbit ears.

Today, those of my age marvel at young people calling, text messaging, and taking photographs over cell phones. Portable devices permit constant connection to e-mail and the Web. Cable channels and bloggers bring us the world. The global marketplace values math, science, communication skills and higher education. Natural resources are subject to worldwide competition and depletion.

Older Maine citizens must meet the needs of Maine’s next generation. Holding to 19th and 20th century structures isn’t responsive to current times. Economies must be versatile and sustainable, government operations must be nimble. We must find new ways to protect Maine’s character in the midst of outside forces and rapid change.

If we want property tax reductions and investment in modern education we must reorganize school administration. Sixty-three percent of Maine’s property taxes are spent on local schools. Thirty-two percent of state general funds support K-12 education. Since 1979, Maine school expenditures have increased 460 percent and backroom school administrative staff has grown 54 percent. Yet, student enrollments have dropped 38 percent.

State government spending is fair game, too, if we tackle real issues. Eighty percent of state general funds are spent on education and health and welfare. The FY08-09 state budget proposes $100 million in savings from these services because that’s where we must find efficiencies. We can’t dismiss this reality and claim we want to reduce spending.

We also can’t dismiss change out of fear for local control. Some are using this mantra to block school administration consolidation. All of us want to support community, safeguard citizen participation and improve our lives and surroundings. But will old views of local control truly protect these values?

We aren’t experiencing community as we did 50 or 100 years ago. Young people are building communities using technology. Many of us no longer live, work and play in one town, but find home in different corners of our region. Are 290 school administrative units really steering us ahead into 21st century Maine? Let’s build control that’s meaningful today, not just a habit of yesteryear.

Strangely, we must change to stay the same. We must face, not sidestep, our challenges to prosper. We can do this realistically and positively, bringing new creativity and energy to Maine. Or we can throw up roadblocks, unsuccessfully grasping at the past.

Looking backwards to find the future isn’t what previous Maine generations are known for. Let’s act courageously and reform school administration for the next generation – now. In truth, we don’t have the time or resources to waste.

Martha Freeman is state planning director.