AUGUSTA (AP) – Members of the Legislature’s Education Committee returned to the Cross State Office Building on Saturday after a winter storm closed state government for a day to resume discussions about school system consolidation.

The panel is working to meet a Thursday target for reporting its policy recommendations to the Appropriations Committee.

The Appropriations panel is still conducting public hearings on Gov. John Baldacci’s $6.4 billion biennial General Fund budget, which includes the governor’s plan for reducing 152 district administrations to 26 units known as regional centers.

Administration officials have booked $36.5 million in savings from such a consolidation for fiscal 2009.

Other proposals have also been brought forward.

Last week, state Education Commissioner Susan Gendron announced the administration was withdrawing a proposal that would have boosted some student-teacher ratios.

Officials had said state savings of $25 million over the next two years from such changes would have been reinvested for making laptop computers available in grades 9-12, as is currently done in grades 7 and 8, and to fund $2,000 college scholarships for high school graduates who enroll in the University of Maine System, the Maine Community College System or Maine Maritime Academy.

Gendron said she and Baldacci remain committed to the expanded laptop program and the scholarships.

Talks on school system downsizing plans have ranged over numerous issues, including the relative merits of consolidation versus collaboration and a minimum size for school districts.

Appropriations Committee hearings resume Monday, with work sessions expected Wednesday and Thursday for panelists to receive reports from various policy committees.

Still pending, which could complicate budget deliberations, is an update from the state’s Revenue Forecasting Committee, which effectively has put off its new report from the beginning of the month to the end of March.

The revenue trackers say they remain puzzled by an unexplained drop in Maine’s business tax receipts and will defer final decisions until after a March 15 corporate income tax filing deadline.

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