N E W S R E L E A S E
Maine Department of Education, Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 18, 2008
Commissioner, Planning Committee Celebrate First Regional School Unit
Voters in Hallowell, Farmingdale, Richmond, Monmouth and Dresden approved plan June 10
HALLOWELL – Education Commissioner Susan A. Gendron congratulated the people who helped create the first regional school unit to be approved by voters under the state’s new reorganization law at a press conference/celebration Wednesday. She presented a Commissioner’s Award to members of the reorganization planning committee that made it happen.
The new Kennebec Intra-District Schools Regional School Unit (KIDS RSU) was approved overwhelmingly in all five towns of the future school system at the June 10 election. The new district will include MSAD 16 (Hallowell and Farmingdale), Richmond, Monmouth, and Dresden, with over 2,300 students.
“At the heart of your conversations was the enhancement of learning,” Gendron said. “Your work really highlights what this legislation was about.” Under the reorganization law, school systems were required to consolidate into larger units to increase educational opportunities for students and make better use of constricted financial resources. Gendron says she believes the state will come in at under 80 units, the goal of the law. There are currently 290 school administrative units statewide, many with few or no students.
Gendron praised the planning committee, municipal officials, the four superintendents, other community participants, and the citizens of the towns for their “landmark and overwhelming approval” at the polls on June 10.
Other speakers echoed and spoke in more detail about the student-focused approach that led to success. They noted that they started working on reorganization in January 2007, before the law even passed five months later.
Mike Rogers, chair of the Monmouth school board and vice chair of the planning committee, said that while debate was intense, all decisions came out of subcommittees with unanimous votes. “Many challenges lie ahead for us, with the transition, and shepherding the regional planning committee (RPC) into the RSU stage,” Rogers said. The RPC has already been re-named the Transition Team, and is beginning that transition work for a July 1, 2009 start. He and others stressed that while financial savings won’t come right away, the pace of budget increases will slow as a result of the consolidation.
And the conversation quickly moved again to education.
“We saw consolidation not as a mandate, but as an opportunity,” said Gary Getchell, a member of the planning committee and chair of the Dresden school committee. He said the strong effort at informing the public at every opportunity (even at school events) was an important part of the public support. Last Tuesday 79 percent of voters supported the reorganization plan.
Joining the participants were Rep. Sharon Treat, whose district includes Farmingdale and Hallowell, who said the group “deserves a lot of credit for keeping their eye on the ball,” and Sen. Paula Benoit of Phippsburg, whose district includes Richmond; she said “excellence for education has always been a top priority, and that’s not just words.”
While five reorganization plans have been approved to date by the commissioner, this was the first to be approved by voters under the reorganization law passed last year. One, RSU #1 in Bath, West Bath, Arrowsic, Phippsburg and Woolwich, was approved by voters there under special legislation that came before the reorganization law. Maine School Administrative Districts 53 (Pittsfield) and 59 (Madison) presented a plan to their voters last week, but it was rejected by a narrow margin in MSAD 59, while approved by voters in MSAD 53. Those units may try again to pass the reorganization plan. Still to vote on their approved plans are the communities of Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales, and voters in Falmouth-MSAD 51.
In addition to the reorganization plans, there are 16 alternative plans that have been approved by the commissioner. Those are for communities who successfully lobbied to remain as they are, either because they are large enough or otherwise were found to meet the criteria in the law. More than 50,000 publicly-funded students are now in communities with approved reorganization or alternative plans, just over 25 percent of the total.
Submitted by: John Armentrout
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