St. George Raises School Consolidation Concern

By GEORGE CHAPPELL; THE NEWS STAFF

ST. GEORGE – Concerns about rising costs, loss of local control of the town’s K-8 school, and declining student enrollment and its effect on the quality of education dominated an informational meeting on the state’s school district consolidation plan Thursday.

Nearly 100 St. George residents packed the town office meeting room Thursday night to listen to local officials explain the effects consolidation could have on the community.

The state’s school administrative reorganization law passed in June 2007 requires school districts to consolidate administrative services. Plans and budgets for new regional school units must be approved by participating communities.

Terry Driscoll, a selectman and member of the school district Reorganization Planning Committee; Bill Reinhardt, a SAD 50 representative and member of the committee; and Town Manager John Falla, an at-large member of the committee, spent more than an hour explaining the ins and outs of the new law Thursday.

“All of you will be asked to consider the consolidation plan as approved by the SAD 5 and SAD 50 school boards,” Driscoll said of the Nov. 4 referendum vote.

The Maine Department of Education had approved the committee’s consolidation plan for a new regional school unit earlier that day.

The committee that worked on the consolidation effort is composed of three representatives of each of the six towns in the two districts: Rockland, Owls Head and South Thomaston of SAD 5, and Cushing, Thomaston and St. George of SAD 50.

As proposed, the school board for the new regional school unit would have 13 members serving staggered three-year terms. Rockland would have five members; Thomaston, three; St. George, two; and Owls Head, South Thomaston, and Cushing, one each.

Driscoll said the people have to consider the pace of valuation growth in the communities. St. George, South Thomaston, Owls Head and Cushing valuations have been growing for the past 10 years at a rate that is 70 percent to 75 percent faster than rates in Thomaston and Rockland, he said.

Residents also were concerned about the fate of the Many Flags, One Campus school proposal.

“The state has said that if we do not approve consolidation, we can consider Many Flags canceled or at least deferred,” Driscoll said.

Penalties for noncompliance with consolidation would amount to $234,000 per school district per year, Reinhardt said.

He predicted that local shares of school costs outside the state’s funding of Essential Programs and Services for school districts would go up.

James Skoglund, retired high school teacher in Thomaston and former six-term state legislator, said consolidation is big business that has nothing to do with education or children.

“What does consolidation do to a community?” he asked. “It has a tremendous negative effect on a community.

“Don’t think you’re going to damage education by saying no,” he said. “The penalties are nowhere near as great as the total cost will be.”

Ann Matlack, recording secretary for the committee, said that with projections of declining student populations and increasing costs, consolidation is a chance to provide an economy of scale.

“This is an opportunity for us to move forward,” she said.

Josiah Wilson, SAD 50 board representative, on the other hand, said consolidation “flat-out stinks.”

“I don’t think we’re being short-sighted by saying no,” he said. “We need to vote no and work toward something that is better for us as a people.”

He urged people to sign a petition being circulated statewide to repeal the school consolidation law. The petition is spearheaded by a group called the Maine Coalition to Save Schools.

Resident Bill Zierden said that no matter what the voters do, school costs are going to go up, “but we don’t know how much and why.

“Then the issue is control,” he said. “At least we’d be in a better position if we could control how we allocate those costs.”

Former school board member Rosalee Berglund said it looked as if consolidation advocates were “trying to balance the budget but at children’s expense.”

“I think the sense of community that my children get here far exceeds the benefits they would have had at some of the other bigger schools,” she said. “I don’t think you can take that away and diminish it.”

gchappell@bangordailynews.net

236-4598

(c) 2008 Bangor Daily News. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.