LEWISTON – Most school systems have met a state directive to form administrative partnerships, but two local districts – based in Bethel and Rangeley – have lost in a kind of musical-chair contest.

They’re left standing alone. Conversations with numerous neighboring, and not-so-neighboring districts, have failed to produce partnerships for either system.

Superintendents of both districts, SAD 44 in Bethel and School Union 37 in Rangeley, say they need help from legislators before proceeding.

Consolidation plans submitted by a few tiny school districts also have not met the state law, according to the Maine Department of Education. They are Carrabassett Valley (87 students) in Franklin County; and two Oxford County towns, Upton (seven students) and Gilead (37 students).

Saying too much is spent on school administration, Gov. John Baldacci and state lawmakers passed a law last year that reduces the number of Maine school districts from 290 to 80. Districts are being reduced by merging central offices. The law does not call for school closings. Ideally, districts should have 2,500 students and can have no fewer than 1,200.

State officials say the existing administrative overhead is unsustainable. Administration has grown while student numbers have shrunk.

“Since the early ’80s, the number of students in Maine has declined by almost 40,000 and is expected to decline by 20,000 more in the next five years,” Baldacci said in his Jan. 9 State of the State speech. “During the same time, the number of school administrators has increased by 400.”

While some in Maine are still opposed to the consolidation law, the majority understand in light of state and local taxes, “the revenue forecast, and declining enrollments, that the existing administrative overhead is not sustainable,” Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said Friday. “Some areas are seeing their high school populations decline.”

Still trying

Bethel schools Superintendent David W. Murphy said his district has worked hard to find another school district or two with which to merge. But, “we continue to stand on our own.”

Since he filed his latest consolidation plan Dec. 1, he’s been told the plan does not meet state law. “We’ve contacted the Department of Education. At this point we’re going to have to wait and see what happens in this legislative session.”

Murphy said he talked with neighboring school districts in Dixfield, Peru, Rumford, Rangeley, Buckfield and Oxford Hills over the past year. They formed partnerships that left out his district, SAD 44.

In Rangeley, School Union 37 Superintendent Phil Richardson had a similar story. “We’ve met with (Oxford Hills, Dixfield, Rumford, Bethel, Turner and Poland) without success.”

His district continues to talk to SAD 39 in Buckfield, and is talking to Murphy in Bethel. So far, the talks have been positive, Richardson said.

If Rangeley and Bethel schools were allowed to become one school district, they’d have about 1,100 students, still short of the 1,200 minimum, Murphy said. And Bethel is a distance from Rangeley. “We’re about 70 miles apart. We’d be geographically challenged. But we’re certainly willing to talk,” he said.

Meanwhile, Murphy said his district has done some administrative cutting. His school district shares a special education and food service director with neighboring school units. And they no longer have a business manager. That service is contracted out.

Poland, Sabattus plans OK’d

Some consolidation plans that did not initially meet the law have since been accepted, according to the state.

Last fall the plan from Wales, Sabattus and Litchfield schools, which make up School Union 44, was rejected by the state because enrollment would have been below the 2,500 goal, and the union did not demonstrate due diligence in trying to find partners.

Superintendent Susan Hodgdon said initially she did not file enough paperwork with the department to demonstrate her efforts. When she re-filed her plan Dec. 1, Hodgdon showed that she had contacted all of the neighboring districts, including the Lisbon, Turner and Topsham districts. They all said no thank you. “It would have cost them more,” Hodgdon said.

School Union 44 has about 1,600 students, more than the 1,200 minimum but less than the 2,500 goal. The schools are looking at more cost-sharing with neighboring districts to cut down administrative costs, Hodgdon said.

A consolidation plan submitted last fall by School Union 29 (Mechanic Falls, Poland and Minot) also did not meet the law and was rejected. On Dec. 1, Union 29 filed a follow-up plan to merge with Gray-New Gloucester schools. That plan was approved by the state.

But Union 29 Superintendent Dennis Duquette complained that merging with Gray-New Gloucester will make the new district large, 3,680 students. And because Gray-New Gloucester pays its teachers more, it will cost taxpayers in his three towns. To match the higher Gray-New Gloucester teacher salaries, Duquette estimated it would cost the towns $820,000 a year.

Before the mergers can be final, consolidation plans have to be approved by voters in each municipality in November. Duquette predicted voters in his towns will reject the merger because of higher taxes.

But Maine’s education commissioner said it’s wrong to assume that all teachers in a new district will be paid the higher salary.

When districts merge “you don’t automatically absorb the highest paid contract,” Gendron said. The state teachers union has testified to legislators that that should not be an issue, that new contracts will be negotiated, Gendron said. “It will probably be a merger of salary scales,” she said.

As for other worries that some municipalities in new districts will inherit higher costs, lawmakers are passing a law to ensure costs won’t be shifted, Gendron said.

In some cases costs could be initially higher, and superintendents’ contracts have been protected or extended by boards. Eventually there will be costs savings, Gendrons said, adding that some have not looked at cuts they could make after merging.

L-A standing alone

Among the consolidation plans that do meet the law, according to the state, are four districts that will stand alone: Lewiston, Auburn, Oxford Hills (SAD 17) and Turner, Leeds, Greene (SAD 52).

Lewiston, Auburn and SAD 17 each have the minimum 2,500-student enrollment. SAD 52 is close at 2,170 students.

Farmington-area schools (SAD 9) plan to merge with SAD 58 in the Kingfield area, and Jay and Livermore Falls schools have proposed merging. Lisbon schools are planning to merge with Bowdoin-Topsham-Harpswell area schools, or SAD 75.

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