Rep. Henry Joy is known for his provocative ideas – remember his proposal to have northern Maine secede from the rest of the state? Rep. Joy is at it again with a bill that would reduce the state’s portion of kindergarten through 12th grade spending to 49 percent, rather than the 55 percent the state is working toward under LD 1. The mechanics of such a reversal would be devastating to schools, especially those in urban service centers, so the message his proposal sends is what’s important.

That message is: Kindergarten through 12th grade education spending is increasing too fast, adding to an already high property tax burden, even as the state works to reduce its expenditures.

The governor’s answer – in addition to cutting state school funding to fill the budget gap – was to require school consolidation, which is still strongly opposed in many parts of the state. If this reasonable approach is weakened or abandoned, schools should expect to face more blunt fixes like Rep. Joy’s.

In 2004, the public voted to require the state to pick up 55 percent of kindergarten through 12th grade costs with proponents pledging that increased state funding would result in significant reductions in local property taxes. Since the 2004-05 biennium, state funding to school districts has increased by more than $583 million. Total state funding to local school districts will have increased by 37 percent from 2006 to 2009. The consumer price index is projected to rise by 11 percent during that time period.

A recent report by the State Planning Office found that the majority of municipal and county governments have stayed within the spending limits set by LD 1. Last year, 82 percent of school districts exceeded their limits, up from 69 percent the first year LD 1 was in effect. Their overspending totaled more than $130 million.

“The state has bent over backwards to meet school funding commitments, but the schools have not held up their end of the bargain,” said Rep. Joy, a Republican and retired superintendent from Island Falls in Aroostook County. He also supports decreasing state support to 49 percent, so towns would maintain majority control.

Rep. Joy blamed the schools, in part, for the state’s $200 million budget shortfall. “The schools have spent this additional [money] as if it were a windfall instead of being meant for property tax relief.”

The additional money comes at a time when the number of students in Maine’s schools is dropping. The student population has dropped by 40,000 since the early 1980s and is projected to decline another 20,000 in the next five years. This has led Maine’s per-pupil costs to rise much faster than the national average.

Rather than force consolidation, Rep. Joy said the governor should have just asked superintendents to cut spending by a specific amount. His bill would do this in an extreme way, but it sends an important message that schools need to hear.