School plan outlined for Bangor council

BANGOR – Superintendent Robert Ervin briefed city councilors Monday night on the school committee’s unanimous vote last week not to consolidate with other area school units.

At more than 3,800 students, Bangor’s enrollment is high enough to exempt it from the consolidation requirements of the state’s school restructuring plan, which aims to reduce the state’s 152 school administrative systems to 80.

While systems already serving 2,500 students or more don’t have to consolidate, they still must examine their administrative organizations in an effort to find some savings. The school department has been working on that angle for the past several months

During the briefing, Ervin said that a review of the pros and cons and a financial analysis led him and other school officials to conclude that consolidating would not be in the community’s best interest.

“Some would say that it’s a no-brainer,” he said.

Before deciding to go it alone, Bangor school officials met with counterparts from communities identified as the most likely consolidation partners – Glenburn, Veazie, SAD 63 (Holden, Eddington and Clifton), Orono and Hampden.

While Ervin last week characterized the discussions as “constructive,” he noted that an internal analysis suggests the risks to the Bangor school system are numerous and the benefits nonexistent, not only from a fiscal standpoint but also when it comes to academic and organizational considerations.

That does not mean that Ervin is opposed to the concept of consolidating in some areas. He said he has been exploring the possibility of teaming up with other area systems in such aspects as food service and transportation.

“It [would] require some differences in the way we do business, but if we can do some of these things, we will be better off,” he said.

The school committee’s 6-0 vote not to consolidate boiled down to three key factors:

. Consolidating could hurt Bangor’s high level of academic achievement.

. Financial projections suggest that if Bangor merged with its smaller neighbors, the net effect would be a shift of hundreds of thousands of dollars to smaller partner communities because the consolidation law uses both valuation and enrollment numbers as the basis for cost sharing. Bangor far outweighs its smaller neighbors in both areas.

Furthermore, if Bangor became a member of a regional school unit, or RSU, its assets would belong to the RSU.

. The school department’s close relationship with city government has resulted in significant efficiencies. The city and school save money by purchasing such commodities as fuel in bulk. The city also provides such services as snow removal at a relatively low cost.