"When you look at this analysis, there's really no tax savings. It's going the opposite way," Yarmouth Superintendent Ken Murphy said of the New England School Development Council's study, which was released in summary form Wednesday.
The report did show that the districts that commissioned the study – Yarmouth, Falmouth, Freeport, Pownal and Cumberland- North Yarmouth – could save more than $1 million in administrative costs if they consolidated.
However, because the state plans to reduce education funding by $36.5 million statewide in the 2008-09 year, the study estimates that the districts will collectively lose more than $2 million in subsidies. So even with the administrative savings, they still would have to raise nearly $940,000 in additional taxes, the study concludes.
The Maine Department of Education contends that the study inflated the amount of state money the districts might lose. Jim Rier, director of finance and operations for the education department, said the estimated $2 million reduction in state aid "is much higher than would actually result."
Rier said he can't say exactly how the five districts would be affected because too many factors are involved in figuring state subsidies. But he noted that the $36.5 million cut will come from a projected increase of $80 million, meaning state funding for 2008-09 will be $43.5 million above next year's level.
Also, Rier criticized the study for not including other savings – in transportation and special education, for example – that are expected when school districts reorganize. "Most of what has to do with regionalization goes well beyond administrative savings," he said.
The report comes as state education officials criss-cross the state to explain the consolidation program, approved by the Legislature recently as a cost-cutting measure.
Under the new law, Maine's 290 school districts will be reorganized into about 80 new ones. The start date for the new regional districts is July 1, 2009, though savings are expected in the year before that.
Among the 26 informational meetings to be held around the state is one that will begin at 7 tonight at Brunswick High School.
Meetings were held earlier this week at Lake Region High School in Naples and Deering High School in Portland.
Frank Gorham, superintendent of the Lake Region school district – School Administrative District 61, covering Bridgton, Casco, Naples and Sebago – said the district did its own consolidation cost analysis with two other districts.
Gorham said the preliminary findings by SAD 61, SAD 55 (Baldwin, Cornish, Hiram, Parsonsfield and Porter) and SAD 72 (Brownfield, Denmark, Fryeburg, Lovell, Stoneham, Stow and Sweden) show "no significant savings at all" in consolidation.
"We're very, very fearful of the consolidation plan," he said.
About a year ago, the school districts in the northern suburbs began studying how they could cut costs through regional services, said Falmouth Superintendent George Entwistle.
The districts already work together as the Casco Bay Educational Alliance and have saved money by working together on professional development, Entwistle said. South Portland is also part of the alliance but was not part of the consolidation study.
The group's focus shifted to studying consolidation after Gov. John Baldacci championed an initiative early this year to reduce the number of school districts, which led to the new law.
Falmouth and the four other districts used a $25,000 state grant to commission the study by the New England Development Council, a nonprofit Massachusetts-based educational organization that helps school districts in areas such as planning,...
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