[Local-Maine-Schools] Form letter from Ms. Gendron

[Dick Atlee]

FWIW, this was the snail-mail letter received a couple of days ago from 
someone who wrote a snail-mail letter to Ms. Gendron:

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STATE OF MAINE                           JOHN ELIAS BALDACCI
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION                      Governor
23 STATE HOUSE STATION
AUGUSTA, MAINE                           SUSAN A. GENDRON
04333-0023                                 Commissioner

March 5, 2007

Thank you for your recent letter to Gov. John Baldacci regarding his 
school district restructuring proposal, the Local Schools, Regional 
Support Initiative in which you voice your opposition to his plan. Your 
comments are appreciated. The Governor has asked that I respond on his 
behalf

While not everyone agrees on the best methods for achieving both savings 
and better educational outcomes for students, we are pleased at the 
increased attention being paid to our educational structure, and the 
broad recognition that there is a need for some sort of consolidation of 
school districts. Please know that we are interested in all perspectives 
on the plan, and are taking them into consideration as we proceed with 
deliberations over the final proposal.

In that same light, you might be interested in the status of the 
deliberations, which are now in the Legislature's hands, so I will share 
with you a brief overview of the expected process for the next several 
weeks:

The Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee has been 
meeting to review the Governor's Local Schools Regional Support 
Initiative, which is contained in his budget legislation, LD 499. In 
addition, the committee is considering six other proposals for school 
district restructuring and is expected to make a recommendation to the 
Legislature's Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee by March 8, 
which will include proposed changes to the Governor's plan, and could 
incorporate portions of the other proposals as well.

The Appropriations Committee will then review the Education Committee's 
recommendations and make a final recommendation to the full House of 
Representatives and Senate by mid- to lateMarch. The House and Senate 
could take up the measure as soon as late March.

Any Representative or Senator may propose his or her own changes to the 
budget, provided the final version of the budget is balanced. That is, 
any proposal that costs more must be offset by a cut somewhere else or a 
revenue increase.

That is the process as it is currently expected to play out in the 
coming weeks. May I also recommend two websites that you may find useful 
in terms of following the process: the first is the Legislature's school 
district restructuring website, with information on all six proposals 
and additional links: 
http://janus.state.me.us/legis/schreg_feb05/homepage.htm. The second is 
the Department of Education website, with detailed information about the 
Governor's proposal, how the plan works, and a series of questions and 
answers: www.maine.gov/education.

I thank you again for taking the time to share your position with us.

Sincerely,
[Signature]
Susan A. Gendron Commissioner of Education

cc: Governor's Office

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