Rural schools to wait and see
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Kennebec Journal: Rural school districts that haven't consolidated with their neighbors are waiting to see if voters dump the whole idea in November through a statewide referendum. Dozens of towns and their districts are still without a state-mandated consolidation plan. Regionally, they are:
- Pittsfield, Burnham and Detroit (Regional School Unit 53/Maine School Administrative District 53).
- Madison, Athens, Brighton Plantation and Starks (RSU 59/MSAD 59).
- Anson, Embden, New Portland, North Anson, Solon (RSU 74/MSAD 74).
- Bingham, Moscow, Caratunk (RSU 83/MSAD 13).
- Avon, Eustis, Kingfield, Phillips, Strong (RSU 58/MSAD 58).
The consolidation law is an effort by the state to merge Maine's 290 school districts into 80, to cut down on school-administration expenses. More than 100 school systems have so far rejected merging, according to the Maine Department of Education. They could be punished for it. The consolidation law has financial penalties that would cut state funding to those districts that still have no plan by July 2010.
In November, a citizen's referendum spearheaded by the Maine Coalition to Save Schools will be on the ballot that, if approved, would toss out the mandate altogether. The defeats, so far, of consolidation efforts, especially in rural areas, have been attributed to voters' concerns about the loss of local control over their schools, and hostility over the state's threat of penalties, several school officials say. "I think it is a reflection of American society that we sense a loss of control of the things we used to be able to control," said Lyman Beverage, interim superintendent of RSU 59, in Madison. "We don't feel we can control what happens around the globe, what happens in Washington, what happens in Augusta or even what happens at town meeting because so many costs are passed on by the state," he said. "The only place people feel they still have control is the schools."
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