AUGUSTA – In swift succession Monday, the Senate approved changes to the school consolidation law and the governor vetoed the bill.

The Senate reacted just as quickly in its attempt to override the veto, but the effort failed by a wide margin. While the bill passed by a vote of 21-14, only 12 senators voted to override the governor’s veto.

In an effort to keep the school consolidation movement on track, the governor Monday also submitted legislation omitting those parts of LD 1932 that he found objectionable.

The Senate had taken up LD 1932 in Monday’s afternoon session and, without discussion, had approved the bill, which had been passed 83-47 last week in the House. The bill contained changes to the law supported by the administration as well as amendments added by the Legislature, including one that would have allowed school districts the option to form school unions.

Gov. John Baldacci, who has opposed the school union provision, wasted no time and immediately vetoed the bill, sending it back to the Legislature.

In a letter to the Legislature, the governor pointed out that his administration’s original proposal contained “noncontroversial” amendments to the law, but that the measure had since become “encumbered with language that I cannot support.”

“In its current form, LD 1932 would undermine the effectiveness of the education reforms that passed the Legislature last year with broad bipartisan support,” Baldacci wrote. “Specifically, the bill would allow for the formation of ‘superunions,’ which would encourage more bureaucracy and allow for the expansion of an inefficient means of school governance.”

In his letter, the governor noted that regional planning committees around the state have been awaiting action on the legislation in order to continue working on forming new school districts. To help them move forward, he said, he has submitted new legislation containing the three non-controversial changes that originally were proposed in the legislation crafted by the Department of Education.

According to the governor, it would allow school units to negotiate local cost-sharing agreements, allow districts that receive the minimum special education subsidy to continue to do so when they join a new school district, and remove the 2-mill requirement that mandated that districts raise at least 2 mills toward education.

The new bill also would correct a technical error by creating a single budget format for all districts.

Department of Education officials were optimistic Monday that they will be able to work with the Legislature to enact the governor’s legislation, according to spokesman David Connerty-Marin.

“The reorganization law is on the books and the districts are working to comply,” he said. “They need these tools in order to be successful.”

Connerty-Marin noted that the education committee already has approved the three “noncontroversial” elements included in the governor’s proposed legislation. He said he did not know whether the bill would be sent to the Legislature’s education panel for review or if it would go directly to the full House and Senate.

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