AUGUSTA — When educators around the state devised preliminary plans recently to shrink the number of school districts from 290 to about 80, it was Education Commissioner Susan Gendron who decided which proposals got a passing grade.

When school districts pursuing mergers as part of that effort complete detailed consolidation plans in the weeks ahead, it will be Gendron who decides whether their proposals comply with state law.

And if some districts refuse to merge after Gendron tells them to do so, it is her department that will penalize them, in part by cutting state aid.

While many school superintendents praise Gendron for trying to follow the letter of the law in her new role as the arbiter of consolidation in Maine, some educators and lawmakers say the law itself has turned Gendron into a merger czar, with too much discretion and autonomy.

"I think the law gives her more power than the commissioner has ever had," said Douglas Smith, superintendent of the Glenburn School Department.

Others say Gendron's power is kept in check by intense scrutiny of the consolidation process from lawmakers, and a requirement that mergers cannot occur without the consent of local voters.

"The commissioner is accountable," said Rep. Emily Cain, D- Orono, who helped write the consolidation law. "Any time the commissioner makes a move, the Legislature is keeping an eye on that."

Gendron does have the power to interpret key aspects of the law, stemming in part from the fact that some sections are vague.

Although the law ostensibly requires each district to have at least 2,500 students, there are exemptions that are not always precisely defined in the law. Gendron has ruled that some districts with fewer than 2,500 students must pursue merger options, while giving others a pass.

In some cases, the exemptions are clear. Island districts and tribal districts can remain independent, no matter how small they are. In other cases, the exemptions are "pretty open- ended," giving Gendron considerable flexibility, said Caribou Superintendent Frank McElwain.

For example, the law says a large rural district can remain independent if it has so few residents that creating a 2,500- student district would be impractical. It does not specify how thinly populated a district must be to get a population-based exemption, however.

Sen. David Hastings, R-Fryeburg, said Gendron promised lawmakers at the end of the legislative session in June that she would exempt existing districts that have fewer than 100 residents per square mile. So he voted for the plan in the Legislature with that understanding.

Later, though, when three thinly settled districts in western Maine that meet that criterion asked Gendron to let them remain independent, she said no.

Gendron denied having promised to exempt such districts automatically, saying she agreed to consider population density as only one factor in her decisions.

She said she has to be cautious about allowing small districts to remain independent because that decision, unlike a merger decision, does not trigger a local referendum to decide the issue.

Gendron said she sent three western Maine School Administrative Districts -- 55, 61 and 72 -- back to the drawing board because they did not analyze merger options fully.

Hastings has proposed legislation that would force Gendron to exempt districts with fewer than 100 residents per square mile. He said the law is "too vaguely worded on this issue," giving Gendron "a huge amount of power."

Critics also note that the law does not provide an appeals process for districts that are dissatisfied with Gendron's merger decisions. All they can do, at least until the Legislature reviews the law next year, is ask Gendron to reconsider her own rulings.

"That's an obvious red flag from a due-process standpoint," said House Minority Leader Joshua Tardy, R-Newport, who supports the concept...