Transcript School Union 98 presentation by Superintendent Liebow

UNION 98 MEETING JANUARY
22, 2007
“Governor Baldacci’s Proposal for
School Consolidation…The creation
of Regional Learning Centers”
The LSRS Initiative
“Local Schools, Regional Support”
stated goals:
• Shifts resources from administration to the
classroom level to achieve excellence in
education for all Maine students.
• Consolidates educational administration to
reduce costs and gain efficiencies
• Reinvests statewide savings in teachers and
students to ensure all students are ready for
“College, Career, and Citizenship”
The details of the proposal as provided
by the Maine Department of Education:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Consolidates the present 152 school district administrations in
Maine to form 26 Regional Learning Communities, ranging in
size from around 2000 students in northern Maine to over
20,000 students in southern Maine, each with one
superintendent of schools and one regional school board
Closes no local schools
Provides funds for a principal in every school
Supports principals with a local advisory council that includes
parents and community members
Laptop computers for every high school student
$3.6 million investment in teacher salaries over the next 2 years
New teacher learning communities, with $20 million in teacher
development for classroom and professional leadership
$2,000 scholarships to encourage college access for all
students
More than $170 million over the biennium in local savings for
property tax relief by achieving 55% state aid to local education.
1
2,546
Madawaska
2
3,156
Caribou
3
Local Schools/
3,076
PresqueIsle
Regional Support
4
2,785
Houlton
9
3,403
Lincoln
5
10
1,824
7,595
Waterville
21
15
18
4,228
22
Lewiston
17
7,303
24
Brunswick
23
15,269
Westbrook
26
19,996
25
17,728
9,907
Sanford
Biddeford
Portland
11
4,197
12
Augusta
16,429
Oxford
6,692
16
6,463
Bath
6
Bangor
Belfast
12,052
5,498
Bridgton
14
7,143
2,546
Rumford
15,138
Skowhegan
5,331
Calais
8
6,147
Farmington
20
Dexter
13
19
Rockland
7
7,729
Ellsworth
2,204
Machias
PROPOSED REGION 7 CENTER COMPOSED
OF “GEOGRAPHICALLY ACCESIBLE AND LIKE
MINDED COMMUNITES”:
•Region #7 Ellsworth: Prospect, Verona, Bucksport, Orland,
Otis, Mariaville, Waltham, Eastbrook, Ellsworth, Franklin,
Sullivan, Gouldsboro, Steuben, Winter Harbor, Hancock,
Sorrento, Surry, Blue Hill, Trenton, Lamoine, Penobscot,
Castine, Brooksville, Sedgwick, Brooklin, Deer Isle, Isle Au
Haut, Stonington, Swans Island, Frenchboro, Cranberry Isles.
Tremont, Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert, Bar Harbor,
•This arrangement consists of 35 towns and 36 individual
schools with around 7500 students and over 40 building level
administrators
BRYANT E
MOORE SCHOOL
ELLSWORTH
ADAMS SCHOOL
CASTINE
DEER ISLE
ELEMENTARY
DEER ISLE
STONINGTON
HIGH SCHOOL
FRENCHBORO
SCHOOL
LONG ISLAND
HANCOCK
COUNTY
TECHNICAL
CENTER
ELLSWORTH
LONGFELLOW
SCHOOL
CRANBERRY
ISLAND
BEECH HILL
SCHOOL
BEECHNILL
BUCKSPORT
MIDDLE SCHOOL
ELLSWORTH
HIGH SCHOOL
SUMNER
MEMORIAL
HIGH SCHOOL
SULLIVAN
CONNERS SCHOO
BAR HARBOR
ELLSWORTH
MIDDLE SCHOOL
ISLESFORD
SCHOOL
LITTLE
CRANBERRY
ISLAND
MOUNTAIN VIEW
ORLAND
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
CONSOLIDATED
SULLIVAN
SCHOOL
MOUNT DESERT
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
SEDGWICK
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
CAVE HILL
SCHOOL
EASTBROOK
BROOKSVILLE
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
REGION 7
S.A.D.
ENROLLMENT OF
APPROXIMATELY
7500 STUDENTS
HANCOCK
GRAMMAR
SCHOOL
PENOBSCOT
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
BUCKSPORT
HIGH SCHOOL
KNOWLTON
SCHOOL
ELLSWORTH
MILES LANE
SCHOOL
BUCKSPORT
MDI REGIONAL
HIGH SCHOOL
BLUE HILL
CONSOLIDATED
SURRY
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
SWANS
ISLAND
SCHOOL
TREMONT
CONSOLIDATED
SCHOOL
TRENTON
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
EMERSON
JUNIOR HIGH
BAR HARBOR
PENINSULA
SCHOOL
WINTER HARBOR
LAMOINE
CONSOLIDATED
SCHOOL
PEMETIC
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
SOUTHWEST
HARBOR
ELLA LEWIS
SCHOOL
STEUBEN
The proposed implementation
timeline:
Maine DOE Communications
MDOE
develops
teams to
organize data
and hires
facilitators for
every new
center to:
State forms
Teacher Learning
Communities
Elect new
regional school
boards who will
select and hire a
superintendent,
create priorities
for regional
district.
Full
implementation
Help with data
analysis
Bring
communities
together
Meld
resources into
one
January
July / August
2007
October
July
2008
How would the new region be
formed?
•
The revised statutes are very unclear on exactly how the
formation committee will be organized and chosen:
§1104. Transition
1. Schedule. During the transition year, school
administrative units within each of the regions designated in
section 1103 shall collaborate, with assistance from the
Department, in order to organize as regional learning
communities in accordance with this chapter.
•
It is clear however that the formation committee will decide
on the following issues…
1. Number of representatives on the board (5-15 members)
2. How representatives will be elected
3. Power of voting for each representative
4. Formula for sharing costs between the towns
How would this proposed Region 7
Center be governed?
• One school board of between 5 and 15
members representing all 35 towns in the
region with the possibility of “at-large”
membership (therefore every town would not
be guaranteed a vote on the regional board)
• Voting power would follow the principle of
“one man, one vote” with a larger
municipality having more power than that of
a smaller municipality
How would this new Region 7 be funded?
• The new regional board would develop one budget for all 36 of
its schools and then distribute those resources to the
individual schools as it sees fit
• All municipalities would be required to raise up to 7.26 mills of
their total state valuations based on their percentage of
regional pupils to meet the base allocation of the budget…any
additional costs raised by the region to operate the schools
would be based upon a formula of their proportional percent of
total regional valuation or an agreed upon combination formula
based upon a proportional percentage share of their valuation
and a percentage share of their student enrollment in the
region
• The budget would be approved by the voters of the region at an
annual meeting and would then be submitted to a regional
referendum for final approval
• Approval by written ballot would be needed for the region to
raise funds above the 100% amount of EPS funding (Essential
Programs and Services) which establishes the minimum
amount of money that the State of Maine considers necessary
for all students to achieve the Maine Learning Results
The Governor’s rationales for the
proposal:
1. Claim:
• The State of Maine spends $2000.00 more per
student than the national average…
Union 98 Response:
• A review of actual State of Maine statistics
shows that this figure was taken from one
year (2004)…The actual average cost from
1999 to 2004 was approximately $1000.00
more per student spent in Maine schools
than the national average…
b
2. Governor’s Claim:
• Central office costs exceed the national average therefore
diverting precious school resources from the classroom
level…
Union 98 Response:
• According to a recent study completed by University of
Maine Professor Gordon Donaldson, Maine does indeed
spend $65 more (10% higher) for administration than the
national average… However we spend $290 less than the
national average for staff to support teachers and
students… This support is presently provided by the
administrators in the school district. According to a recent
editorial in the Bangor Daily News written by University of
Maine Professor Gordon Donaldson, Maine’s percent of
expenditures for administration and support services in
2003-2004 was the fourth lowest in the nation and the
amount spent on direct instructional services was the
second highest in the nation
3. Governor’s Claim:
•
Student achievement of Maine students has
reached a plateau and barely exceeds national
averages…
Union 98 Response:
• A review of scores from recent years on the
N.A.E.P (National Association of Education
Progress) tests shows that Maine students have
performed far above the national averages in
both reading and math. In School Union 98, 11th
grade students performed well above both the
averages for the State of Maine and the schools
across Hancock County
PROPOSED REGION 7 SAT SCORES:
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PERFORMED IN THE TOP
8% OF ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE STATE OF MAINE ON THE 2006 SAT TEST
GIVEN TO ALL MAINE HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS
REG7SAT
percent
School
Exceed
Meet
Partial
not meet
math
Exceed
Meet
Partial
not meet
read
Exceed
Meet
Partial
not meet
writing
5
42
25
28
444
7
38
32
24
443
6
40
32
21
435
UNION 98
10
54
23
14
485
16
42
31
10
491
13
48
27
10
482
Ellsworth
3
46
25
26
450
8
39
20
32
437
5
45
28
22
434
GSA
2
45
35
18
448
5
53
32
10
470
5
52
33
10
468
Deer Isle
0
45
14
40
425
5
26
31
38
397
5
24
33
38
386
Bucksport
3
31
28
39
409
4
31
33
32
418
5
28
37
30
405
Sumner
1
34
21
43
396
3
33
22
42
404
4
30
26
39
395
STATE
4. Governor’s Claim:
• The State of Maine pays the lowest teacher
salaries in New England
Union 98 Response:
• The average salary for teachers in the
State of Maine is indeed below both the
national and State of Maine
average…However the communities
supporting School Union 98 have worked
hard to provide their teachers with a
competitive salary equal to the national
average and well above the State of Maine
average
Maine had the lowest teacher salaries in New
England
SCHOOL UNION 98 AVERAGE TEACHER
SALARY IS: $45,780.00
Average Teacher Salaries by State
Connecticut
$57,337
Massachusetts
$53,076
Vermont
$42,007
Rhode Island
$52,261
Maine
$38,864
New Hampshire
$42,689
National Average
$45,726
$0
$10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,000
Source: The Learning State: Maine Schooling for the 21st Century, Select Panel on Revisioning Education in Maine, September 2006
5. Governor’s Claim:
• The State of Maine has a very low
percentage of students pursuing post
secondary education…
Union 98 Response:
• The percent of School Union 98 students
attending Mount Desert Island High School
who went on to college was over 75%
which is higher than any state in the
northeast
70
Maine has a low percentage of students pursuing post-secondary
education…% Students Proceeding from High School Directly to
College (2004)
MDIHS % of students going on to
college is over 75%
60
50
40
68.7
56.6
53.1
40.8
30
20
10
0
NY
MA
NJ
CT
PA
USA
NH
RI
Maine
VT
DE
How will this proposal change
life in School Union 98?
1. For our students:
•
•
•
•
Average class sizes would increase to
approximately 25:1 (17:1 per FTE)
High probability of reduced elective offerings at
the high school level due to limited resources
Fewer extra-curricular opportunities than are
offered now due to lower individual school funding
School choice for our off-shore island schools
would be reduced if not eliminated at the
discretion of the regional board
2. For our Citizens:
•
•
•
School boards would be disbanded and replaced with
one regional board of between 5 to 15 members
representing 35 towns. Voting power would be weighted
and therefore favor the larger municipalities
A school advisory council of parents and community
members would be allowed for each school to assist the
principal in the running if the building but this group
would have no voting power in the affairs of the new
region
One budget would be developed for the entire region. No
longer would there be strong local input in the
development of the budget or the distribution of the
funds raised for education to the local schools. Warrant
committees and town officials will lose the check and
balance system that now helps to justify local education
spending
• An individual town would not be allowed to
provide additional funds for its local school as is
now the practice through the annual town meeting
format…only the new region will have this power
through it budget development process and the
regional annual meeting
• All school buildings that the new region desires to
use for school purposes would have their
ownership transferred from the municipalities to
the new region
• All the balances in school accounts and any
reserve funds would be transferred over to the
new region
• Any local school construction debt would stay the
responsibility of the local municipalities (Union 98
schools currently have approximately 25 million
dollars of local debt obligations)
• Any new regional school construction debt
would become the responsibility of all of the
regional towns
• The regional board would decide if an individual
small school will remain open or be closed. A
vote of all the towns would be required to close a
school. A town could then vote to keep its local
school open but would have to pay extra for any
costs that would have been saved by the region
in closing that school
• Building maintenance, renovation and
replacement decisions would be made at the
regional level according to a multi-year facilities
plan
3. For our teachers:
•
•
•
•
•
Contracts would transfer over to the new region for one
year and then a new common regional contract would be
negotiated mostly likely resulting in flat or decreased
salaries for the teachers presently in our schools
The increase in the average class size would result in the
loss of over 600 jobs statewide…Some of our teachers
would therefore be forced to uproot their families and
relocate to other areas of the state
Teachers could be reassigned to any school in the region
at the discretion of the regional board
New teachers would be hired by the regional board and
assigned to the local schools as the regional board sees
fit…all re-employment decisions would also be made by
the regional board
Special education teachers would take on the
responsibilities for Child Development Services for all
birth to 6 year old children in the area
4. For our building principals:
•
•
•
•
A reduction in central office direct support, advise
and consultation
Principals could be reassigned to any school in the
district according to the needs of the schools in
the region at the sole discretion of the regional
board
Supervision and evaluation would be drastically
reduced
Added duties once performed by the local
superintendent and central office personnel would
become the responsibility of the local building
administrator
5. For our support staff:
• New salary agreements would be
established for all of our local support
staff based on regional parameters
• One would expect there to be a
reduction in overall staffing levels over
time due to the regional consolidation
process and budget restraints that
would be in place
6. For our central office staff:
• All multi-year contracts at the central office
level would be transferred over to the new
regional office until they expire…staff would
be reassigned duties by the regional board
• Any hourly wage employees would become
unemployed on July 1st 2008. They would
have to apply for any vacancies that might
exist in the new regional office
7. For our island schools:
• Reduced funding levels from the region
would dramatically change the staffing level
and present grade structures
Other questions and Concerns:
•
Could we privatize our school system?
This would be a very difficult process and would require our towns to raise extra funds to
replace the loss of state subsidy and grant funding in order to maintain the present level
of location educational funding
In addition, our teachers would lose their membership in the Maine State Retirement System
•
Has the governor provided numbers that support the budget savings they are claiming?
There is considerable debate about how or if these savings can actually be achieved
•
What will administrative staffing look like in the regional office?
The level of staffing in the central office will be determined by each new region after it is
formed. One would expect there to be a considerable layer of new middle management
administrators to handled the myriad of tasks that would be located at the new regional
central office
•
Will the citizens get to vote on this proposal?
No. This proposal is embedded in the Governor’s proposed budget for the next biennium. The
State Legislature will be the body responsible for changing the existing statutes and
approving the new state budget
•
What is the rationale for one district with 35 towns?
The plan is organized around the existing 26 vocational center districts which already have a
cooperative board in place for planning and budgeting purposes for their regions
•
Does the essential programs and services formulation the governor uses to calculate
how much we should be providing for tax relief adequately fund education?
No. Eighty five percent of the school districts exceed the EPS formula. The governor says that
represents a failure on the part of the schools. However, following the EPS formula
would result in drastic cuts in all of our educational programs
HOW SHOULD UNION 98 RESPOND
TO THIS INITIATIVE?