Don't shut down the schools

Government shutdown days are an unpopular necessity. State government now has them to offset its budget shortfall, and we wish it didn't. Their scheduling into a string of extended weekends is proving convenient to nobody beyond the bureaucracy.

Yet we grudgingly agree with their existence. The fact is, for "nonessential" government offices, the cumulative effect of shutdown days on the public is as minimal as possible as a bid to avoid raising taxes. A perfect compromise, in other words: pleasing to few (if not none).

This is untrue for Maine schools. Lawmakers and education officials spoke recently about shuttering schools to address a $66 million shortfall, which would mean trimming the current 175-day academic calendar. Just one day off, according to state estimates, could save $7 million.

That's money better off spent, in our opinion. Closing schools has tacit effects: extra burdens on parents, educators and kids to accomplish their academic and professional aims in less time. The already difficult job of teaching children becomes even harder when time is being cut to do it.

It's a risky maneuver too, in this climate. A stifling winter with numerous weather-related closings or delays, if combined with mandated shutdown days, could place significant, additional pressures on schools, parents and children to cope. (The spectre of flu and missed classroom time hanging over schools only complicates matters.)

Perhaps most important, however, is the message: We should want to keep schools open as a point of community pride. This would say that even in toughest economic times, the social responsibility to educate our kids is never compromised.

Closing down schools for money, in our mind, would reek of the failure to sacrifice for what is most important. Closings  could balance the budget, but at what cost? There are public services that must be delivered, regardless of their expense. Education is paramount among them.

The other alternatives aren't great, true. There is either cutting programs or "nickel and diming" districts, as Education Commissioner Susan Gendron put it. Yet compared to closing schools, the problems this creates and the message this sends, these options seem much more reasonable.

That's why the line should be drawn at schools. Every other possible alternative for savings should be considered, before closures are even considered. And when they are, we urge lawmakers to respond clearly, and for the record, "No. That's not the way we do things here."

editorialboard@sunjournal.com