STONINGTON – The group seeking to repeal the state’s school consolidation law has reached a milestone with more than 50,000 signatures on its petitions.

The Maine Coalition to Save Schools has gathered 50,771 signatures, according to Lawrence “Skip” Greenlaw, the group’s chairman.

“Our efforts are headed down the proverbial homestretch of reaching our goal of having sufficient signatures to submit the petition to the Maine Legislature,” Greenlaw said in a prepared released. “We hope to collect the additional signatures necessary to submit the petition in August.”

The group must collect 55,087 signatures for the petitions to be validated. Greenlaw has said previously that the coalition hopes to get 60,000 signatures. The coalition collected 8,896 signatures during the June primary elections and hopes to gather the remainder during the next month.

The group began the petition drive last fall but failed to meet a January deadline to send the petition to the Legislature during its last session.

Once the secretary of state has certified the petitions, they will be presented to the Legislature. If legislators fail to act on the petition during the next legislative session, which begins in January, Maine voters will have the opportunity to vote on the petition during the November 2009 election, Greenlaw said

The group, however, will not wait until the next legislative session starts and will lobby candidates on behalf of repeal before the elections this year. The group plans a letter campaign to candidates to explain why the consolidation law should be repealed.

Meanwhile, the coalition is seeking financial contributions from towns and individuals to support the effort. Although most of the signatures on the petitions so far have been collected by volunteers, the group has used a professional company to gather some signatures.

Greenlaw estimated it would cost the group about $15,000 to collect the remaining signatures.

Donations may be made payable to Maine Coalition to Save Schools and sent to Judy Sproule, treasurer, 18 Rothry Lane, Trenton 04605. For information, contact Sproule at 667-6694 or jcsproule@roadrunner.com, or Greenlaw at 367-2738 or skipg@midmaine.com.