[Local-Maine-Schools] comments on Blended Plan language

[Ralph Chapman]

R. Chapman's comments on Blended Plan language - May 8, 2007

I offer these three brief comments on the Blended Plan Language.  (I
am not a lawyer.)

	1.  Seven purposes of reorganizing Maine's school administrative
districts (section 1451) include (#6) effective use of public funds by
creating more cost effective organizational structures.  I did not see
any test of the intended improvement to be applied except for a
determination on the Commissioner's part that reorganization plans
fulfilled the purposes.  With the history of the Commissioner (and
departmental staff) vigorously supporting reorganizations in the
absence of financial cost projections to support the intended savings,
I believe something stronger needs to be included in the language to
protect against band-wagon effect reorganization that serves little or
no purpose.

        2.  Section 1459 has several problems:
		a) to protect school choice (where it now exists) requires that the
protection be stated explicitly.  The phrase "...may contract with..."
implies also a choice to "not contract with".
		b) There are currently students attending private schools at public
expense without contracts.  Valid reasons for the present arrangement
should be understood prior to requiring contracts.
		c) Some towns send students to multiple private schools; the use of
the phrase "...a nearby school..." or "...a private school..." may be
adequate for the meaning of "one or more", but I believe future
confusion would be eliminated by changing the phrase to "one or more".

	3.  Section 2570 perpetuates a seriously flawed policy by restricting
the spouse of a governing body member to be an employee.  I have
detailed reasons why this is very bad policy (which I am happy to
share with anyone interested) but it is so very simple to correct the
problem even without knowing all the flaws:  "An educational service
collaborative governing body shall promulgate a policy that addresses
restrictions on its members and their families and associates with
respect to nepotism and other conflicts of interest."
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