The Legislature is tweaking the school consolidation law in response to widespread citizen dissatisfaction. Most of the debate in Augusta, though, is about money, power-sharing and timelines. It’s rarely, if ever, about whether district reorganization will improve the quality of learning for our kids.

This may be no surprise, since the reorganization plans required by the Department of Education don’t even mention educational programs. That is, regional planning committees aren’t required to think about how a new district will help (or hinder) students and teachers. The plans they submit to the state for approval don’t have to show how a bigger district will improve learning.

My work with one reorganization planning committee shows me that most citizens care deeply about how reorganization will affect their children and their community schools. They are extremely hesitant to form new districts that threaten to distance them from educational decisions. They are extremely worried that centralized districts will dictate policies unsupportive of kids, teachers and healthy learning environments.

Legislators should heed these worries. Experience and research confirm that parent and citizen involvement in schools increase student learning. This is especially true for kids who do less well academically. We also know that parents do not participate as much in schools that are large, unfamiliar or difficult to get to. Put plainly, the consolidation law runs the risk of weakening student learning by weakening the bonds among towns, parents and their schools.

Short of outright repeal of the law, three specific actions can salvage some educational benefit from the chaos of reorganization:

1. Designate specific duties and powers to local school committees so citizens and parents have direct influence on educational decisions at the town and neighborhood levels. Maine communities have treasured their connections to their schools for 300 years. There is no accountability like direct accountability!

2. Require reorganization plans to include a description of educational programs and practices in the new RSU and a well-reasoned argument explaining why such programs will be improvements over the current ones. True gains in “efficiency” require gains in quality as well as reductions in cost.

3. Require reorganization plans to include strategic plans for professional development of teachers and principals and for parent engagement in their children’s learning. The Fullan study that Education Commissioner Gendron used to justify the consolidation law considers regional professional collaboration and development essential. It must be included and budgeted for in plans.

I hear frequently that the consolidation law is “useless,” “a waste of time,” or worse, “harmful to kids and schools.” That’s because Mainers don’t see it as constructive for kids or communities. So far, they’re right. We’ve forgotten the kids and their education.

If the Legislature only tweaks the existing law, this fatal flaw will persist. The law will not achieve its eight goals (most of which address quality). It will turn out to be what people fear most: a tool to build new regional bureaucracies that put more distance between citizens and the schools their taxes pay for. Teachers and principals will be forced to respond more to the RSU than to the parents of their students. And we’ll continue to forget the students.

Gordon Donaldson is a professor of

education at the University of Maine.