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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Brian, <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Thank you for your email last week asking for the basis of the fiscal
note for LD 1932. As you know, it is the Legislature’s Office of
Fiscal and Program Review that determines fiscal notes, not the Executive Branch.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The data provided to the Office of Fiscal and Program Review show
clearly that school administrative units (SAUs) in school unions cost more to
operate than those in any other type of governance structure. In similarly
sized SAUs, SADs and CSDs cost less to operate than units that are in unions.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>School size and other potential factors do not change the data. There
are SADs with small schools, such as SAD 4 in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Guilford</st1:City></st1:place>, that also operate for less per
pupil than similar SAUs in unions. SADs have a single school board and a
single budget. Most unions have a proliferation of decision-making authorities
and therefore there is less likelihood that any one entity will look
comprehensively at either the finances or the educational program.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I am attaching three items that may be of interest: a one-pager with
information about school unions and efficiency; a spreadsheet showing per-pupil
costs for different types of governance (I think this may already be on your
website); and several slides from a presentation by Dr. David Silvernail of the
Maine Educational Policy Research Institute at USM – information he
presented to the Education Committee some weeks ago on this topic.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>David<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>David Connerty-Marin<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Director of Communications<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Maine Department of Education<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Brian Hubbell
[mailto:sparkflashgap@gmail.com] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, February 07, 2008
8:47 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Connerty-Marin, David; David
Silvernail<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Cc:</span></b>
local-maine-schools@mainetalk.org<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Basis of fiscal note for
LD 1932?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>To: David
Connerty-Martin, Maine Department of Education<br>
Cc: David Silvernail, Director, Center for Educational Policy, USM<br>
Re: Basis of fiscal note for LD 1932?<br>
Date: February 7, 2008<br>
<br>
I was just reading the fiscal note attached to the Education Committee's
minority report on LD 1932 and I'm particularly curious about the following:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div style='margin-left:30.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'>Information provided by the
Department of Education indicates that, for fiscal year 2005-06, the
average per-pupil expenditures for school unions that served pre-kindergarten
to grade 8 students was $1,009 higher than the state average and $1,385 higher
for school unions that served pre-kindergarten to grade 12 students. </span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
Granting for the moment that the raw data underlying the correlation is
accurate, I'm very interested in what causal relationship is implied here.
<br>
<br>
Is the Department asserting that these same school systems could be operated
for $1000 per student less, either as SADs or as municipal school districts,
while maintaining the same schools and instructional services? <br>
<br>
Yes or no.<br>
<br>
If so, I'd be most interested to see the modeling that explains how school
union governance, in itself, generates those superfluous costs.<br>
<br>
And, if not, I'd observe that the suggestion borders on statistical fraud.<br>
<br>
Brian Hubbell,<br>
<st1:place w:st="on">Bar Harbor</st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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