February 1, 2007

To the SAD #4 community:

Our school system, and more importantly our local privilege to operate those schools, is under attack. The governor’s budget proposal, including his desire to create 26 mega districts in the state, stands to change the fabric of our communities and a method of operation, management and local financial accountability that defines the basic essence of what living in Maine is all about.

The Governor’s simple sound bytes about “saving millions of dollars”, “gaining more local control of schools”, “no schools closing”, “the schools are all spending over the EPS limits” and “a principal in every school” is nothing more than political rhetoric designed to appeal to the average Joe whose taxes are sky high and wants something done about it. These tactics are common in politics these days, and sadly, they are often effective. They are based on the presumption that the general public will not take the time to read the legislation that is being proposed. I have read the proposed budget legislation, and I encourage each citizen to do so also. Let me take a moment to share just a few of the highlights:

-“We will save millions of dollars by reducing the number of superintendents” - In reality the bill says that the new “region” will employ superintendents with multiple year contracts. The projected administrative savings come from cutting classroom teachers, raising the minimum class size ratios in the EPS formula, and by cutting essential central office personnel (payroll, food service, business managers, human resources, IT, etc.) across the state. There is nothing in the budget proposal to show how this work will be done, by whom, and at what cost. The rest of the projected savings come from “arbitrary” (DOE official’s word – not mine) percentage decreases in special education, maintenance, and transportation that would provide “assumed” savings. We spend 1.8 billion- yes billion! - dollars a year on education in Maine. The governor’s projected savings -if they were real – would result in a thirty-dollar tax savings on a one hundred thousand dollar property. This is not the type of tax relief that you are led to believe would occur, and it would not take place at all in SAD #4 due to the EPS formula.

-“We will have more local control of schools” –

The commissioner of education tells us that every school would have an “advisory board” to work with the principal in guiding the school. In reality the new region, (ours would be region #10 and would consist of forty towns) would have a governing board of directors of between five and fifteen people that would make all of the policy and financial decisions. Make no mistake about it, “the golden rule” would be in effect - the people control of the gold would rule!

-“ We would close no schools” - This is true – the state would close no schools, but is obvious that the new regional board would have to, because they simply would not have the dollars through the EPS ratios to justify keeping them open. Schools would close – lots of them. To imply that they would not is misleading at best. How fair is this to the children and citizens of SAD #4 - a district that already made the tough decision to close several schools years ago – because it was the prudent thing to do?

-“The schools are spending over the EPS limits” - This general statement does not accurately portray what is happening in SAD #4 and in many surrounding systems. SAD #4 actually is one of the 19% of school systems in the state that is under the EPS limit. SADs 46, 48, and 68 are also under. What is the reward for our school system for staying within their means? We have been able to watch other systems that were way over EPS limits receive millions in dollars in “transition money” the last couple of years so that they could continue to keep tiny schools open and operate in an inefficient manner. Local systems should be able to keep their schools open if they wish, but not with state dollars used to subsidize their expensive habits. The wrong behavior is being rewarded, and systems like SAD #4 that made the tough decision to close several small schools, are being unduly punished for doing what was right. We will be expected, under the new proposal, to give our assets (buildings and land) over to the new region, but retain locally (each town) any debt that we have on those assets!

- “A Principal in every school”-

Golly, this sounds great! But some small schools do quite nicely without a full time principal. This will simply not be a wise use of tax dollars to arbitrarily assign a principal to every building. Local folks will make far better decisions about the assignment and location of administrators.

I could go on and on, as the issues are complex and require a great deal of time and study to analyze effectively; there simply is not room on this page to even mention all that is involved, but let me close with a couple of points:

The state is in financial trouble. The Department of Health and Human Services has enormous financial issues. Medicaid and health insurance programs are in disarray to say the least. The Department of Education is spending far more money, both local and state, than it was just four years ago and we have fewer students.

We have a tax problem in this state…not just a property tax problem. You cannot increase total spending and deliver tax relief…it is that simple. We need to demand that our leaders have the insight to peel back the financial layers and find exactly where the tax dollars are flowing, and the political courage to address it with those systems – (in education and other areas of government) that are living extravagantly beyond their means. It has been very obvious that the effect of Regional Salary Cost Indexing has caused millions of new dollars to be pumped into education in the state in the past three years. A close look at the allocation rates created by the EPS formula will plainly reveal that most of these dollars-millions and millions – have been shifted to urban, affluent systems and towns, creating the educational and economical crisis that the state is in at this point.

State leadership should not punish the children and staff of those systems that have managed to hold the line on costs by forcing them into undesirable management schemes.

George Nuite

Board Chair – MSAD #4