Editorial commentary, Wiscasset Newspaper, October 22, 2009

School consolidation: no savings, bad for kids, hurts towns

By KEITH COOK

Sensible Mainers have the opportunity on November 3 to repeal school consolidation and not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by misguided politicians who have jumped on the consolidation band wagon with its specious claims of saving millions of dollars.

No savings

The administration in Augusta simply doesn’t know what to claim. First it was saving $250 million. Remember that... a quarter of a billion dollars? Now that most local Mainers have discovered there are no savings, and, in fact, they will have to spend more, the claims of savings from Augusta have disappeared, and they have shifted to the scare tactic that it will cost $30 million more to repeal the law. This is from the people who couldn’t get the figures right in the first place. If you believe that figure, I’ve got a great deal for you on the Waterville-Winslow Bridge.

Consolidation of school administration is simply a clever political ploy to pull more power from local communities to the State. It is not to save money. Researchers at the University of Maine who studied Maine's last venture in consolidating schools under the Sinclair Act in the 50s and 60s found that administrative costs escalated 406 percent from 1950 to 1980 despite closing hundreds of schools. Overall per-pupil spending also increased to the point where now, 45 years after Sinclair, Maine has the fifth highest overall per-pupil spending in the nation.

Strange as it seems, bigger often costs you more. The State of Hawaii found this when after years of having just one school district and one superintendent for the entire state, administration was costing them too much and in 2003 they formed smaller administrative units. Larger administration tends to beget larger administration whether in schools or corporations.

In many of Maine’s smaller school systems, superintendents fill multiple roles rather than hire more administrators. They are often the curriculum director, food service director, transportation director, and even sometimes the school principal and special

ed director. (Otherwise each of those positions needs not only a salary and benefits but an office, clerical assistance and equipment.) That is why even though Maine spends $65/pupil more than the national average on central office administration, we spend $290/pupil less than the national average on support services.

From 1960 to 2003, forty-five major studies of 792 school consolidations reported savings for just four systems. Is Maine’s new law just hubris or sheer deception?

It is no surprise that when a leading spokesperson for the consolidation forces in Maine recently went to speak to Vermont legislators about consolidation, they wanted nothing to do with it. They seem to be learning from us.

Communities lose

Maine is largely a rural state. The entire state is affected when small communities lose their school and suffer economically and socially. Major research from Cornell University found that communities that have schools grow more, have higher housing values, higher mean family income, and less reliance on welfare. Communities without a school tend to decline. In fact, Dr. Lyson’s research states "...money that might be saved through consolidation could be forfeited in lost taxes, declining property values and lost business." Some small communities have already had to close their schools from the double punch of Essential Programs and Services and consolidation. This business and social issue affects the entire State.

Kids’ education suffers

Consolidation into larger schools is educationally inferior for many students, especially the 60-70 percent in many schools who live in poverty. Why?

It is now widely known that the single greatest impact on student achievement is the socioeconomic level of the family. Students from higher income families achieve at higher levels; poverty tends to lower achievement.

What is not so well known is that smaller school size actually reduces the impact of poverty on students’ achievement.

Research by the Rural Trust examining 2003-04 MEA scores for every school in Maine has found that the negative effects of poverty on school achievement was reduced, and sometimes completely eliminated, in smaller schools. And the same results were found for every other state analyzed. Guess what to support if you are concerned about poverty, jobs and hunger.

And why should you be concerned? One, altruism. It’s the right thing to do to create the best learning situation for all kids. Two, poverty perpetuates poverty and costs us all. Three, it doesn’t save us money.

Low income and lower achieving students are more likely to drop out which also increases the likelihood of drugs, unemployment, crime, welfare, family dysfunction, special ed needs and imprisonment. As adults who are not earning there is no income tax paid, no property tax paid, and we all pay about $66,000 per year in Maine for each prisoner. Compare that to $9300 for a student. In short, trying to save money by consolidating schools is like trying to save on your heating bill by cutting down all the trees around your house to burn for firewood.

Frugal Mainers see through that one in a hurry.

Keith Cook is a licensed psychologist practicing in Waterville, and has served as a superintendent of schools, teacher, coach, and guidance counselor. He is a founder and former coordinator of the Maine Small Schools Coalition.

Gateway 1 challenge…let’s proceed carefully

Now that the town of Edgecomb has signed on to the Gateway 1 start-up agreement, there will be many dollars and many volunteer hours spent on trying to come up with a way to keep traffic moving, keep our little coastal villages intact, and not discourage business.

That’s the idea behind the idea of trying to plan for the future of the midcoast region’s most important road – Route 1 – from Brunswick to Stockton Springs. It is a project initiated by Maine’s Department of Transportation which has involved representatives from the communities along the route. These volunteers have been meeting with MDOT officials for several years to put an action plan together. Signing the start-up agreement is the first step.

The challenge now is to see if conflicting goals can be reconciled. How do you keep traffic moving without limiting business growth?

The state now has 12 towns that have said they will sign the start-up agreement. Wiscasset selectmen voted last week not to sign it. Although there was little discussion by the three selectmen at the meeting, MDOT’s past practice of charging exorbitant fees for new businesses to put in driveways, or curb cuts, on Route 1 has certainly soured the town on the state’s ability to reconcile those two opposing goals.

On page 127 of the Gateway 1 plan, one of the "basic actions" listed is limiting the number of access points per mile – specifically, 10 in a 55 mph area, 15 in a 50 mph area and 20 in a 45 mph area.

We hope the other towns in the midcoast area that have signed on to this will proceed carefully before implementing what could discourage business in a state that so woefully needs economic growth.

- Paula Gibbs