Report argues for incentives in struggle over school reform Maine Children’s Alliance analyzes consolidation efforts

AUGUSTA – A new report by the Maine Children’s Alliance contends that the state’s school reform effort is flagging but could be revived through a new focus on incentives for consolidation.

“A Case for Cooperation II,” to be published later this month, was released Tuesday on the MCA Web site.

The report provides a detailed analysis of the school consolidation law enacted in 2007 as part of the state budget. It charts developments during the recent legislative session, which saw numerous attempts to modify drastically or even repeal the law. And it also looks forward to the 2009 session, when the Legislature likely will consider school reform measures.

Most school districts in Maine are supposed to attempt consolidation, reducing the number of districts statewide from 290 to 80. Only a few plans have been completed and only a handful of communities are ready to vote on them this month, according to report author Douglas Rooks.

Rooks said many local regional planning committees were spending the bulk of their time grappling with the implications of consolidation on their budgets and governing issues of how to manage the expanded school districts, instead of finding ways to consolidate.

“It’s not going well,” Rooks said Monday. “People on the [committees] are having a hard time.”

To move the process forward, “A Case for Cooperation II” recommends changes in the law and renewed emphasis on educational improvements as opposed to the current exclusive focus on budgets.

“Based on Maine’s experience with the Sinclair Act, we believe that incentives will be more effective in bringing schools together than the penalties in the current law,” said Jack Rosser, chairman of the MCA and Education Project advisory boards.

Rosser said the emphasis on immediate cost savings had been unproductive, delaying the work of many local reorganization planning committees. “Savings take time to achieve, and to engage community support, there must also be a primary focus on what schools provide for students,” he said.

The Department of Education’s communications director, David Connerty-Marin, said the law already provided a form of incentives to those schools that join together. He agreed with the segment of the report that acknowledged that the communities that focused on putting education first had made the greatest progress in their consolidation efforts.

“Even so, the law has both financial penalties and incentives – the penalties incurred by units that fail to comply will be redistributed as incentives to the communities that do comply with the law,” he said. “Incentives and penalties are flip sides of the same coin.”

Connerty-Marin said the state had injected $700 million of new spending into education over the past four years, a period when other state departments were being flat-funded or cut. He said the report’s call for additional spending was unlikely to happen.

He said the state could give schools a certain amount of money and then take some away from those that don’t comply. Or it could give a smaller amount of money to everyone and then give incentives to those that comply.

“If the amount of you distribute is the same either way, you end up in the same place,” he said. “And I think that is what the report calls for in suggesting redistributing costs within [General Purpose Aid].”

“A Case for Cooperation II” follows the original report, published in 2006, which was cited by legislators and state officials in crafting reform proposals. The new study evaluates work done over the last two years, and the prospects for eventual success.

“We’ve made a start,” said Rosser, “but we clearly have a long way to go.”

The report includes chapters on the statewide RPC process, how the state’s school construction program has led to voluntary consolidation, and why statewide curriculum standards have not yet been implemented. It includes recommendations balanced between improving school organization and enhancing educational quality.

To read the report online, visit www.mekids.org. To receive a copy of both reports, call 623-1868, ext. 202, or e-mail adminasst@mekids.org.

wgriffin@bangordailynews.net

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