Kids don’t know everything after the first few months of kindergarten. Once numbers, colors and sharing are covered, a whole universe of educational opportunity still awaits.

After a while, students become familiar with the educational system. They learn how to learn. This familiarity can breed contempt with the system. Yet it also drives success, and reveals opportunities to make the system better.

But only if the school and the student are given a chance.

As Mainers shuffle into their respective public buildings today to vote on racetrack/casinos, extending term limits and borrowing millions for bonds, an army of promised pollsters are also expected to gather signatures on a petition to repeal school district consolidation.

From bow to stern, that is. The petition’s proponent, the Maine Coalition to Save Schools, equates consolidation with shuttering rural schools, a lingering refrain from the bitter battle around consolidation during last fall’s State House budget proceedings. So the coalition and its supporters want it gone.

A citizen’s initiative is the wrong way. Repealing consolidation might satisfy scaremongers who insist “local control” remains non-existent in the process – despite the concerted legislative efforts by the Rural Caucus and the local referendums yet to be held – but it’s a losing proposition for all of Maine.

Consolidation deserves the opportunity to work or not work, and be evaluated on its district-by-district merits, rather than concerns voiced by a few. Rural reps, led by Wilton’s Rep. Tom Saviello, worked too hard to install local control into consolidation – in response to their constituents – to see it all swept away by referendum.

Local committees were charged with developing proposals for consolidation, which will require approval from local voters. This is real local control, not asking all Mainers for a blanket repeal of the entire program.

Consolidation is an imperfect policy. It should have been mandatory. Even its limited loopholes were still too large, which has helped give rise to the current repeal campaign. That Lewiston and Auburn, two candidates more logical for consolidation than most others, are eligible to be exempt shows its flaws.

L-A’s sidelining also makes it a placebo in this consolidation experiment, which will measure success or failure through schools that had to comply, against those that could stand alone. This will take many years to sort out.

But students aren’t fully evaluated after their first few days in school; neither should this policy.

Circumventing consolidation before its worth is proven is shortsighted; we urge voters, if presented with the repeal petition, to take a pass. Now is not the right time to decide.

Voters still have this chance later.