AUGUSTA – Hundreds jammed the Augusta Civic Center on Monday to complain that Gov. John Baldacci’s school consolidation plan would harm education, especially in small, rural schools.

Baldacci said his plan would reduce administrative costs, improve education and cut taxes. It would eliminate 152 administrative offices and 290 school boards, and replace them with 26 regional offices overseen by 26 citizen committees.

With growing taxes and shrinking enrollment, things have to be done differently, Baldacci has said. His plan aims to save $250 million in savings over two years.

Most who testified at a legislative hearing Monday were educators or school officials. Few spoke about the need to cut costs for taxpayers.

Wearing a “No” sticker, Scott Porter of the Maine Small School Coalition called Baldacci’s plan a “flawed approach” that would leave small schools powerless to defend themselves in larger, regional districts.

Special education teachers and directors warned that Baldacci’s plan would “devastate” special education. They feared those students would be segregated.

One Portland central office worker said Baldacci’s plan would not just lay off superintendents but hundreds of office workers who do much for schools.

Speaking for the Maine School Superintendents Association, SAD 9 Superintendent Michael Cormier of Farmington said superintendents are not opposed to thoughtful consolidation but are opposed to Baldacci’s plan. Cormier complained that projected savings “have not been fleshed out.”

An Aroostook County superintendent said the governor’s plan could destroy rural Maine. “The very existence of rural Maine rests in the balance,” warned Mars Hill Superintendent Roger Shaw. Declining enrollment combined with Baldacci’s plan would lead to the closing of small, rural schools. That, Shaw said, would lead to people moving out of small communities.

Glen Niemy of Bridgton said he moved to Maine from California “where schools were torn to pieces” by Proposition 13 “and all these misguided attempts to save a couple of bucks.”

All of the consolidation plans heard by the Education Committee Monday “will do nothing but disconnect the people from their representatives,” said Niemy, who is a member of the SAD 61 school board.

“Not one person so far has spoken in favor of the governor’s proposal. There’s a reason for that,” Niemy said. “Listen to these people. They know what’s good for their communities. We’re not a bunch of country bumpkins who need the state to tell us how to live our lives and educate our children.”

Peter Geiger of Lewiston was one of the few who applauded Baldacci for his call for immediate action. Maine can’t continue with the status quo, said Geiger, executive vice president of Geiger and chairman of the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education.

“We’re not getting the right kind of education we need. We can’t wait a lot longer,” he said. However, Geiger did not endorse Baldacci’s plan. The right way to consolidate districts needs to be worked out, he said.

The enemy isn’t public educators, Geiger said. School districts are in the fragmented state they’re in “because we have not had the political will to effect real change.” A solution must be found, “and do it now. Don’t put it off any longer.”

Prudence Grant, chairwoman of the Lisbon School Committee, disagreed on urgency. More time must be given to for consolidation, Grant said.

The Lisbon School Committee is not opposed to consolidation, but there should be a planning committee to help determine savings. Lisbon should be consolidated only with similar towns and the Lisbon School Committee should be retained, she said.

Having advisory committees in each school, as Baldacci proposes, won’t be enough to retain local control “when parents realize that they have no power,” Grant warned.

Legislators also accepted comment Monday on several other legislative proposals to consolidate school administration in Maine. Much of the testimony, however, targeted the governor’s plan.

Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, said the Education Committee will consider what members have heard and may craft a new school district consolidation bill. A public hearing on that committee’s bill will likely be held in mid-March, Rotundo said.