Maine Issue Summary

Maine’s school districts are getting smaller. Enrollment has dropped by 50,000 students from the 1970s and it is anticipated that in the next decade it will drop another 23,000 students. Maine’s schools systems still function in a system of tradition but “the cost of that tradition and the lack of progress under the current system is forcing change” (New School Choice, 1). Mainers are struggling with high taxes. Maine is listed as the second highest taxed state based on 2002 tax burdens expressed as a percent of personal income (Office of Fiscal and Program Review, 2). These high tax burdens are the result, partly, to the set up of the school systems. Maine has 286 school districts. A plan by the state panel would reduce this number to 35. “While there is little prospect that this plan will be approved, some variation should be; perhaps the result is 50 or 75 or 100 districts, not 280 and not 35" (Take baby steps, 1). There are a variety of benefits that might occur with a combined school districts including a more diverse course offering in the arts and foreign languages. The costs per student at a larger high school is smaller then the cost of the same student at a smaller school. Baldacci anticipates 250 million dollars saved over the span of three years with the school consolidation model.

Opponents of the plan believe that there are several problems to the consolidation idea. One of the main concerns of districts is the length of time their students will be spending on a bus while being driven to their consolidated school district. Another concern was that for many small districts the school system is the center of the town and to consolidate would “rip its heart out" (Quimby, 1). Another point mentioned was that many school districts have neighboring sports rivalries and it would be difficult to combine districts.