Editor:

    When crafting plans to regionalize our school
districts, are federal funding requirements taken into
consideration?  

    Senator Susan Collins has worked hard to see that
the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) has provided more that
$4.1 million dollars in additional funding for rural schools and school
districts in Maine. She has been successful in increasing federal
funding for REAP each years since its enactment.

    I have learned the funding provided by this federal
program will no longer be accessed by any Maine schools the way the
Governor’s proposal is written. Is this true of other regionalization
proposals as well? Are there more federal funds that will be lost
should Maine create such large school regions? I would think it is
important that our state not forsake federal monies when proposing
changes to “benefit” our students. Haste makes waste.

Ang Foley

Cape Elizabeth