[Local-Maine-Schools] ellsworth american letter to editor

[Dick Atlee]

Ralph Chapman wrote:
> This link is to my letter to the editor published in the June 14
> edition of the Ellsworth American:
> http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8451&Itemid=194

Thank your for saying that, Ralph.  As usual, you're right on target. 
We on MDI may have managed to squeak by, but there are a LOT of people 
who will probably end up hurting as a result of this stupidity -- most 
of them students and taxpayers.

I'm going to include the text of your letter here so it is available 
directly in the list archives:

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Myth-based Policy-making
Written by Ralph Chapman
Thursday, June 14, 2007

Dear Editor:

Governor Baldacci signed into law last week the state budget legislation 
overwhelmingly passed by both the House and the Senate the day before. 
The budget included a change to Maine’s public educational system more 
drastic than any in well over a half century.

The “school consolidation” piece of the state budget, formed by a 
subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, was not presented to the 
public until two days before it was enacted into law. No public hearings 
were held. Many people are not yet aware of the content of the new law.

Eighteen hundred elected school board members have had their jobs 
eliminated, including all of those for whom readers here have voted. 
Local control, if any, will be at the discretion of newly formed 
regional school unit administrations. Ownership of local school 
facilities is removed from the municipalities in which they reside. The 
future will decide whether these changes are a benefit to our 
educational system or not.

What concerns me the most is that the decision making process was based 
on myth rather than fact.

Because the public had no opportunity to be heard, and because our 
political leadership chose to present false and fraudulent information, 
the decision (good or bad) was produced under circumstances that do not 
reflect well upon our democratic principles.

Foremost among the myths is that there was a problem with our 
educational system. In fact, our schools have proved to be unusually 
good: rated fifth in the nation last year; the four states that rated 
better all spent more money on education per student than Maine.

In particular, the Maine Department of Education has presented the myth 
that education administrative costs are particularly burdensome in 
Maine. In fact, the fraction of educational costs going toward 
administration in Maine is 16 percent below the national average. Even 
on a per-student basis, Maine’s educational administrative costs are 
less than the national average.

The myth that our declining student population has forced these drastic 
structural changes to our education system ignores the fact that the 
student population is projected to start increasing again in only five 
years. We have managed to accommodate the last 10 years of decline as we 
have managed to accommodate the previous 10 years of increase. Our 
present decline is part of continuing ups and downs that, at most, are a 
few percent per year.

The reason that the school consolidation piece was included in the 
budget was so that a mythical $36.5-million savings could be credited to 
the state’s budget. In fact, the $36.5 million is the same savings 
calculated for the Governor’s original proposal that eliminated four 
percent of the state’s teaching positions ($26 million) and 80 percent 
of the state’s superintendents ($10 million if there were no additional 
positions created). Since the budget passed last week cut no teaching 
positions and fewer than half of the superintendents, the projected 
savings are overstated by at least $31 million.

The public’s vigilance faltered here and our democracy has suffered an 
assault. I encourage every school board member to write a letter to the 
local state representative and senator expressing his or her feelings 
toward being relieved of his or her voluntary public service elected 
position.

Ralph Chapman
Brooksville