By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

A joint meeting Tuesday night between the Cape Elizabeth School Board
and the town council to discuss the town’s plans for moving forward
with consolidation raised more questions than answers.

During the next month, school administrators will look at
recommendations for possible plans and conduct another public
hearing.   

“The end product is imperfect,” said Bruce Smith of the consolidation,
which he said reflected the legislature’s effort to do a lot of work in
a short period of time. Smith, an attorney in school law with Drummond,
Woodsum & MacMahon, attended the meeting to provide a consolidation
overview and to offer guidance, as school administrators, statewide,
are coming up against the Aug. 31 deadline to submit a notice of intent
to the Department of Education (DOE). 

The School Administration Reorganization Law was passed on June 7 as
part of the state’s $6.3 billion two-year budget. The law aims to cut
state education costs by reducing the number of school districts from
the more than 200 that currently exist to 80.

Districts that are exempt from the law and may opt to submit an
alternative plan rather than form a regional school unit (RSU) include
school administrative units that serve more than 2,500 students, school
units designated by the Commisioner of Education as “efficient,
high-performing districts,” and school units that after due diligence
fail to find a consolidation partner.

State Rep. and Cape Elizabeth Town Councilor Cynthia Dill pointed out
the “efficient, high performing” exception “is a result of Cape
Elizabeth.” Dill made the amendment to exempt school units which as
defined by the May 2007 Maine Education Policy Research Institute
Report contain at least three “higher performing” schools and report
per-pupil expenditures for system administration that represent less
than four percent of the total, according to a DOE summary of the law.
The summary also states the DOE will “develop criteria for ‘efficient,
high performing’ [units] in major substantive rules to be provisionally
adopted by December 2007.”

Dill said some legislators felt the May 2007 report criteria would
become “stale” over time and the law needed “a standard that was
evolving and not dependent on a report.” This year, the law is
dependent on the report, but as it moves forward the new rules will
take the report out of the formula.

If Cape Elizabeth pursues an alternate plan, the district must still come up with a way to cut administrative costs.

According to the summary of the law, the per-pupil rate for system
administration will be cut by 50 percent from 2005-2006 rates and
facilities, maintenance, transportation and special education will each
be cut by five percent.

After attending a recent superintendents’ meeting, Superintendent Alan
Hawkins said the cost per student for administrative costs has already
been set at $204.

In terms of the school budget, which will be required to go to
referendum regardless if Cape Elizabeth is exempted or not, Smith said
voters will either vote the budget up or down. The monetary amount will
not appear on the ballot, but the budget must be posted so residents
can the budget the town council approved.

The ballot will also specify whether or not the budget exceeds state
subsidies and requires additional funds to be raised locally.

Hawkins said he has been performing due diligence in looking at
possible partnerships and has had talks with newly appointed South
Portland Superintendent Suzanne Godin and Scarborough Superintendent
David Doyle.

Cape Elizabeth serves 1,756 students compared to 3,100 students in
South Portland and 3,500 students in Scarborough, Hawkins said.

Hawkins said he has also considered the possibility of sharing costs
for transportation, food services, and special education with Yarmouth
or Freeport.

At this point, however, Hawkins said it appeared as though Falmouth
would partner with Cumberland and North Yarmouth and that Yarmouth
would either join Freeport or stand alone.

“One of the big issues for me in this process is looking at costs,” Hawkins said.

David Hillman, one of a handful of residents to voice concerns during
Tuesday night's meeting, said he favored pursuing exemption while also
looking at ways to collaborate with Yarmouth, Falmouth or Freeport. He
said those communities are of equal size and have equal interests and
they were to collaborate, Cape Elizabeth would retain its own high
school and a sense of autonomy.