[Local-Maine-Schools] Senate carries Damon amendment with LD 1932 Majority Report

[Brian Hubbell]

Yesterday, the Senate took long-anticipated action on the bill
designed to fix the largest problems with the school reorganization
law. But anyone reading this morning's news reports should be forgiven
for not being able to figure out what, if anything at all, happened.

In fact, it was an unusual day all around with schedules half-cocked
from the onset from many extenuating circumstances.  So, starting from
the beginning.

Gail, Paul, and I got to the Senate chamber early, but not as early as
a dozen or so eighth-graders from Mount Desert Elementary School who,
by complete coincidence, were there for the day to serve as Senate
page.  Privately, all of us, including Senator Damon who welcomed
them, took that to bode well for the Damon amendment.

The Senate's morning session, however, was curtailed to allow a joint
meeting of the legislature to hear from the New Brunswick Premier, so
the scheduled action on LD 1932 was postponed until a late afternoon
session, after legislators scheduled committee hearings.

Even as late as 3:30 when Senators entered their caucuses, rumors
circulated that action could still be tabled for a later day if all
Senators weren't available or if any weren't satisfied with their
information.  So, it was with some trepidation, that we ended up
fielding a few individual questions from caucus emissaries, as the
caucuses reviewed summaries of LD 1932's amendments using the charts
they'd downloaded from MDIschools.net.

But, with Wednesday's storm forecast, move forward the process did,
recursive as it sometimes seemed.

In session, the Senate first adopted the Education Committee's
Majority Report which contained most of the substantive improvements
and technical corrections generally agreed upon by all sides.  The
only item carried by the majority and absent from the minority report
was a section allowing the postponement of this year's requirement for
school budget validation referendum.  This did draw comment from the
Minority Leader, but the majority report carried 22-13, with the
negative votes apparently being drawn from Republicans who preferred
either to maintain the budget validation requirement for this year
and, perhaps, preferred to hold out either for general repeal or for
the minority report's proposal for school unions.

Directly following, Senator Damon introduced his "bolt-on" amendment
to allow Regional School Unions as an alternative to the current RSUs.

Senator Mills then spoke in opposition to the amendment.  It's
impossible not to respect Senator Mills as he has the knowledge and
sharp skills to make a compelling case on the floor, but this evening
his heart must not have been in it, as the power behind his argument
against school unions seemed to deflate as he went on.  He made one
rhetorical misstep in a statement that the Damon amendment would
create more administrative units than even presently exist and, in
trying to recover, he found himself conceding that the current law had
terrible, unfortunate, clumsy flaws.  From there the only path out he
saw was to observe that all the great pain endured by citizens and
legislators alike over the past year "would be for naught," and the
incompelling glumness of that sentiment seemed to rain down on any
sparks of oppositional rally.

In response, the Damon amendment found support in places one might not
have expected.  Senator Bowman, who is scrupulously neutral as
Education Committee chair rose to favor the amendment once and then
again in clarification in response to Senator Rosen who wanted more
information on the budget process under Regional School Unions
(covered by sections outside the amendment).  Also Senator Martin,
whose enmity toward school administrators is long-standing, spoke
twice in favor giving certain credibility.  Washington County's
Senator Raye, even with a voice that seemed painfully constrained by a
cold, spoke emphatically in favor of the opportunities the amendment
provided for local control and rebutted the contrary assertions of his
colleague Senator Turner about relative efficiency of school unions.

In the end, the Damon amendment prevailed 18-17, a tally that was so
nail-biting as the votes one by one lit up the Senate board that it
inadvertently knocked loose from the sidelines a single (heartfelt but
indecorous) hand-clap which was summarily gaveled into contrition by
the Senate President.

The vote split* is highly indicative of the variety of interests at
odds in this matter.  One one side, full supporters of stay-the-course
consolidation are rarer, but still extant.  On the other side, some
are still advocating either for full repeal or significant
eviscerating of the law -- or else perhaps hoping that, in the absence
of other intervention, the process just collapses under its own
inertia.

But, yesterday afternoon, the Damon amendment found a majority by
taking a broad swath between these two positions.  For this, all those
who supported this amendment can be justifiably proud of a significant
accomplishment.

Thank you, Senator Damon.

--------------------------------------------------
*Vote split

YES: (13D +5R)

      BARTLETT of Cumberland          D       Y
      BOWMAN of York  D       Y
      BRYANT of Oxford        D       Y
      DAMON of Hancock        D       Y
      HOBBINS of York         D       Y
      MARRACHÉ of Kennebec    D       Y
      MARTIN of Aroostook     D       Y
      MITCHELL of Kennebec    D       Y
      NUTTING of Androscoggin         D       Y
      PERRY of Penobscot      D       Y
      SCHNEIDER of Penobscot  D       Y
      STRIMLING of Cumberland         D       Y
      SULLIVAN of York        D       Y

      GOOLEY of Franklin      R       Y
      PLOWMAN of Penobscot    R       Y
      RAYE of Washington      R       Y
      SHERMAN of Aroostook    R       Y
      SNOWE-MELLO of Androscoggin     R       Y


NO: (12R + 5D)

      BENOIT of Sagadahoc     R       N
      COURTNEY of York        R       N
      DOW of Lincoln  R       N
      HASTINGS of Oxford      R       N
      McCORMICK of Kennebec   R       N
      MILLS of Somerset       R       N
      NASS of York    R       N
      ROSEN of Hancock        R       N
      SAVAGE of Knox  R       N
      SMITH of Piscataquis    R       N
      TURNER of Cumberland    R       N
      WESTON of Waldo         R       N

      BRANNIGAN of Cumberland         D       N
      BROMLEY of Cumberland   D       N
      DIAMOND of Cumberland   D       N
      EDMONDS of Cumberland   D       N
      ROTUNDO of Androscoggin         D       N