[The following is a letter sent to Rep. Jane Eberle D-South Portland/ Cape Elizabeth]



Dear Representative Eberle:

    We are writing to express our opposition to Governor
Baldacci’s LSRS plan. After studying the Governor’s proposal we are
baffled by his willingness to settle for mediocrity in our state’s
schools, his willingness to sacrifice Maine’s and our children’s future
on the TABOR altar.

    As stated by Governor Baldacci on January 26th at
the public forum at Deering High School in Portland, the Cape Elizabeth
School system is the “model that is working.” According to your
colleague Cynthia Dill, Maine State representative and Cape Elizabeth
Town Council member, Cape Elizabeth “should be used as the model from
which the state could work, given our low administrative costs per
student, the collaboration with our municipal services, and most
importantly our consistent excellent academic achievements,” [according
to published reports] Specifically, these achievements include the
highest overall SAT scores in Maine and being named one of the top
1,000 U.S. high schools in the country by Newsweek Magazine for 2006.
And yet, Governor Baldacci’s proposed plan would dismantle our local
model leaving our town with no benefits and almost complete loss of
local control. Under the new model, Cape Elizabeth would have
approximately a nine percent vote in determining what happens to our
local schools and the quality of education we provide our youngest
citizens.

    Governor Baldacci argues that his proposal will save
taxpayers money. This argument is flawed for two reasons. First,
according to [quotations attributed to] Rebecca Millet, Cape Elizabeth
School Board Member, “In Cape Elizabeth, we spend less per pupil than
nearly all of the other districts that have been grouped together,” she
said. “If we pay less than other districts, will Cape Elizabeth
taxpayers be saved money or will we actually be raising how much we pay
for education as a community? I suspect that we are going to be paying
more.” Second, according to [quotations arributed to] Cape Elizabeth
Town Manager, Mike McGovern, the governor’s proposal “would have the
regional district take all of our current assets …it appears that this
might include the municipal pool, the town fitness center, the Thomas
Memorial Library, the Town Center fire station and police station.”
Despite the loss of these assets under the Governor’s plan Cape
Elizabeth would still be responsible for the debt.

    We fail to see how this arrangement would be a good thing for local tax-payers. 

    We support Governor Baldacci’s efforts to find much
needed efficiencies in state government and the subsequent cost
savings. We also fully support his purported effort to improve the
quality of education in Maine.

    We recognize the immensity of these tasks and
commend his efforts, as evidenced by his detailed and extensive plan.
However, there is little data to support that fewer, larger districts
can produce better results at a lower cost. On the contrary, “The
Report Card on American Education: A State By-State Analysis,” found
that states which average fewer schools per district tend to score
higher on the SAT, ACT and NAEP tests [according to published reports].
We simply are not willing to “consolidate” at the expense of any
student’s education, including those students that are performing at
the highest level.

    We cast votes for both Governor Baldacci and you. We
are beginning to regret the former. We know we will not regret the
latter because you will not support his current plan and allow Cape
Elizabeth’s excellence to be traded for mediocrity and proposed tax
savings. If this plan should pass, we would not rule out voting with
our feet. We are highly mobile professionals who chose to bring our
education and skills to Maine from another state with renowned public
education.

    We felt comfortable with this choice in large part
because we found—after much research—a public school district in Maine
that compared with the best from other states. If the Governor’s
proposal is victorious, we expect this would no longer be the case.

    As a result, while we love Maine, we may find
ourselves joining a predictably large exodus of intellectual capital
(and tax revenue) from a state that can ill afford it. 

Sincerely,

Sarah Lyons Price

Daniel Price, M.D.

Cape Elizabeth