Every child in the state of Maine deserves equal access to educational opportunities. Our economy demands it. And every taxpayer has a right to expect that every educational dollar – more than one-third of all taxpayer dollars – is being spent wisely.

As the national recession continues to impact State revenues, the law is critical for prioritizing limited resources for the classroom. Already, Maine’s reorganization law has resulted in incredible opportunities for students in the districts that have reorganized, adding and expanding programs such as pre-kindergarten, foreign languages, Advanced Placement courses, and gifted and talented. The goals of equal opoprtunity, rigorous programming, sustainability, and efficient use of funds are being achieved.

As a result of Maine’s foresight and the wisdom of its citizens in preserving the reorgnization law, the state is three years ahead of other states, which are scrambling to catch up with Maine, which is much better prepared to face current economic uncertainties.

Success on the ground: Savings and educational opportunities

In the first year of the reorganization implementation, most of the newly reorganized school systems were heavily engaged in academic and administrative planning, strategic planning and curriculum alignment work.

Many of these school systems – which enroll over 61,000 students, or more than one-third the students in the state – have expanded educational opportunities to the students in their region. Along the way, they have also shown significant savings, even when taking into consideration the startup costs.

School systems seeking to stand alone were required to file Alternative Plans and were required to show that they could sustain educational programming. Every district, regardless of size, must demonstrate savings and that reductions in funding for system administration will not affect classroom instruction. These districts range significantly in enrollment and geographic make-up, reflecting the flexibility built into the law.

Results

• Statewide and local savings. By requiring efficiencies in non-classroom functions through the funding formula, the state is able to reduce annual commitments by $36 million and reduce the local obligation by $30 million annually.

• District-level savings. Individual districts are finding significant savings. Four districts alone have generated savings over $2 million per year – and that is even with start-up costs. Nearly every RSU that has met with the Department indicates they are either saving money already or expect to shortly. All say sustainability of educational programs without these savings would be extremely difficult or impossible.

• Extremely varied school system configurations and sizes, reflecting the flexibility built into the law. For example, “stand-alone” units range in size from about 1,000 students to over 7,000; there are RSUs and AOSs ranging from small groupings of two to three communities to wide geographic areas; they are in southern, western, northern and eastern Maine.

Moving ahead

The Department’s work now is primarily to support the 33 reorganized units, and to work with the stand-alone systems on additional collaboration and financial strategies aimed at preserving and expanding educational programming. Together, these school systems represent 89 percent of the students in public K-12 systems in the state.

The Department continues to support those non-conforming units that want to move ahead with a new reorganization plan. The Department has heard from at least six groups of school districts with plans to move forward with planning for new regional school units to become operational on July 1, 2011.

As a result of the reorganization law, Maine is better prepared to meet the current economic and educational reform challenges facing our state and the country. Because of the local planning required under the law, districts are better able to diversify and expand their educational programs, ensuring all of their students have equal opportunities for success. Our goal is to give every student in the state those same opportunities.

Courtesy of the Maine Department of Education

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