CONSOLIDATION TRENDS

Gov. John Baldacci’s bold initiatives aimed at consolidating state and local government services, historically speaking, may not be that bold. What the governor has done is formalize and accelerate trends that have been at work for decades. Understanding the history of the consolidation tide in Maine may dull the edge of some of the sharp criticism aimed at the governor’s proposals.

Pushing school districts to create regional units, though not without problems, is achievable and necessary. The one-room schoolhouse, often depicted idyllically on TV, does not represent a golden age in education. At the dawn of the 20th century, many Maine towns had such schools in the dozens. Educational quality varied widely, depending on the skills of the teacher and other factors.

In the post World War II era, when the perennially depressed Maine economy began to rebound, communities decided they could do better, and began to construct centralized school buildings. Those brick buildings are still standing in the heart of many Maine towns and cities. To further create equity in educational quality, the Legislature crafted the Sinclair Act in 1957. Instead of small towns having their own high schools – with graduating classes of 25 or so students – regional high schools were formed.

With 30,000 fewer students in schools now than in the 1980s, the need to rethink – yet again – how education is administered is not such a huge leap.

Similarly, the governor’s proposal to consolidate county jails and state prisons did not come out of left field. In the 1950s and 1960s, small towns and their police departments often had holding cells, usually in the town or city hall, where prisoners would be held for a day or so. Again, varying conditions in those cells led to the consensus that more consistently safe and humane facilities were needed, so county jails were upgraded in the 1970s and 1980s. Gov. Baldacci’s proposal would essentially transform county jails from full service facilities to more specialized operations, allowing them to excel at their more individualized missions.

Within the last several years, the state Department of Transportation closed some of its regional office buildings, and moved jobs to Augusta. Trucks and road crews remain decentralized for obvious reasons, but planners and engineers could work as easily – and more efficiently – in a central office.

Even in the private sector, consolidation has been at work in Maine for sound business reasons. Forty years ago, service center communities had a handful or more stores at which one could buy groceries. By the 1980s, a few chains dominated the grocery market, building ever-larger stores, while holding down prices.

Those inclined to dismiss the governor’s initiatives as unworkable ought to weigh them against the sweep of recent Maine history and its financial realities.