AUGUSTA – Saying there’s a need to preserve art and music teachers, Gov. John Baldacci’s administration has backed away from a plan to cut teacher-student ratios in middle and high schools.

The tradeoff will be no funding for laptop expansion to grades 9 through 12, or for scholarships to help needy Mainers go to college, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said Tuesday.

Gendron told members of the legislative Education Committee that she’s looking for alternative ways to pay for the scholarships and laptops.

In January, Baldacci proposed a sweeping plan to improve education and cut taxes by reducing the number of Maine school districts and superintendents from 152 to 26. Baldacci’s plan also called on changing the state education funding formula to pay for a ratio of 1 teacher for every 17 students in grades 6-12. Now the state allows a 16-to-1 ratio at middle schools, a 15-to-1 ratio in high schools.

The 17-to-1 ratio would have saved $25 million over three years, money Baldacci proposed to use for more laptops and college scholarships.

The ratio is back to original levels after hearing many school officials say: “‘We’re going to cut X number of teachers, and here’s where we’re going to cut them.'” Teachers in advanced-placement classes, foreign language, art, music and phys ed would go, Gendron said.

The intent was never to hurt programming, Gendron said. “Thus our re-commitment to ensuring those teachers are in the schools.” In the last four years Gendron said she’s seen “more and more art, music and those types of positions continually cut from budgets. We need to preserve those.” By 2012, those classes will be required in tougher high school graduation requirements, she said.

Going back to the original ratio does not take away from the overall goals of cutting costs and taxes, she said.

“The major heart of the plan was academic excellence and rethinking how we operate central office functions,” Gendron said. “This doesn’t change any of that. What we’re trying to do is preserve that academic excellence at the middle and high schools.”

Tuesday’s change was not made to give Baldacci’s embattled plan a better chance of passing, Gendron said. While the school district consolidation proposal has taken a beating from school superintendents and school board members, Gendron insisted there’s wide support among non-educators.

“I have legislators come up to me and take me by the arm and say, ‘don’t back down,'” she said. Business people, local chamber of commerce members and Rotarians have given an encouraging message of: “Go for it, governor,” Gendron said.

The administration is “absolutely going for it. I’m confident we will have a change,” she said. “Folks are recognizing we can’t sustain the system we’ve got.”

Rep. Elaine Makas, D-Lewiston, a member of the Education Committee, said the committee is scheduled to recommend a plan on March 8.

It will likely be different from what the governor proposed, she said. Makas questioned whether the projected $241 million in savings can be reached. And the size of new school districts recommended by the committee may not be as large as what Baldacci has called for, she said.

For instance Makas favors the school departments of Lewiston and Auburn merging, “but it seems unfair to stick into that mix Litchfield, Sabattus, Wales, because they’re going to be overwhelmed by Lewiston-Auburn. If they want to join in, fine,” but those communities may be better off joining with similar rural districts, Makas said.

Like Gendron, Makas predicted there will be change.

“Listening to the other people on this committee, the Democrats and the Republicans, we have a whole lot of consensus already that something needs to be done, and in general what needs to be done.”