LEWISTON – On Feb. 23, the Maine Department of Education said it would release estimates of what school districts could expect for state money for local education on Feb. 27.

Three weeks later, the numbers are still not available, department spokesman David Connerty-Marin said Wednesday.

“Our new answer is soon,” he said.

What’s holding up the process is there are too many unknowns as legislators work on Gov. John Baldacci’s proposal to cut school administration and save taxpayers money, Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, said Wednesday.

“Given all of the proposals being debated we are trying to provide superintendents with a funding range so they will be prepared,” Connerty-Marin said. “It does them no good if we provide them information, then three weeks later say, ‘Oops, you’re getting $300,000 less.'”

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron is about to send letters to superintendents giving them a range of possible dollars, recommending they budget on the conservative side, Rotundo said.

State law says that the Department of Education is to give school districts the funding numbers by Feb. 1. “We’ve reminded her of that,” Rotundo said, adding that this year is unusual because of the law changes that need to happen to cut taxes. “I don’t know what else can be done.”

Current state spending on education “is not sustainable,” Rotundo said. That unsustainable problem will worsen in two years when state money spent for local education falls under a spending cap tied to the inflation rate, or about 3 percent. Spending has been significantly higher.

The appropriations committee has formed a subcommittee to review recent recommendations from the Education Committee on Baldacci’s administrative cuts. On March 8, the education committee recommended about $36.5 million in cuts, compared to the governor’s $241 million in cuts.

Among Appropriation Committee members there’s a concern that the education committee’s recommendations don’t “go far enough,” Rotundo said. “We have to find a course that is sustainable.”

The subcommittee is to give its recommendations to the full Appropriations Committee in about 10 days, Rotundo said.

Meanwhile, not having figures on state money for local education means that Lewiston Superintendent Leon Levesque and about every other superintendent in Maine can’t release a proposed school spending plan.

“I don’t have anything from the state,” Levesque said Wednesday, adding he’s heard different dates from the state “four times now. The commissioner told me last Friday it would be Tuesday. Tuesday has come and passed. I don’t know what’s going on out there. It seems dysfunctional,” Levesque said. “I don’t think they have a clear picture.”

Districts like his “will have to be flexible” in working on this year’s budget, Levesque said.

State money for education in Lewiston last year made up 67 percent of the $41.08 million in school spending. In Auburn, state money made up more than 50 percent of the $32.64 million school budget.

Lewiston’s property valuation went up a bit more than the state average last year, 14 percent versus 13 percent, Levesque said. That could mean a bit less education money from the state. Enrollment numbers, another big factor that determines state education money, stayed steady, Levesque said.

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