Earlier this winter, Gov. John Baldacci presented his LSRS plan for massive forced school consolidation. The purported savings – on the order of $250 million – were embedded in the governor’s budget proposal package, achieved by a state-mandated reduction from over 200 existing school districts to 26 districts based on the state’s regional technical centers, over a two-year time frame.

A mega-district of more than 16,000 students would have been created in this area, a far cry from the 2,200 students and three-town governance MSAD 52 currently operates with.

Widespread outcry at public presentations of the LSRS plan indicated too much, too fast, with too little local input. The Education Committee then presented its consolidation plan, with minimum district sizes of 1,200 students, funding incentives, local choice in consolidation partners, and a time frame extended to 2010.

Maine’s entire educational community agrees that regional cooperation/consolidation offers great potential for reduced costs in delivering the excellence this state sorely needs. I urge our legislators not to squander this tremendous opportunity for change. As the debate continues, ensure that consolidation dollar figures are real savings, not rhetoric designed to conveniently fill a specific hole in the state’s budget.

Honor our vital local control and character, and commit to a blueprint that works for Maine. Our state’s current and future taxpayers deserve no less.

Elizabeth Bullard, Turner

Chairman, MSAD 52 School Board of Directors