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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=skipg@midmaine.com href="mailto:skipg@midmaine.com">skip greenlaw</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=skipg@midmaine.com
href="mailto:skipg@midmaine.com">skipgreenlaw</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 01, 2009 8:18 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Press release</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Maine Coalition to Save Schools</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Contact: Skip Greenlaw</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>367-2738, 460-1260, <A
href="mailto:skipg@midmaine.com">skipg@midmaine.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; LETTER-SPACING: -0.75pt; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 21pt">MAINE
COALITION TO SAVE SCHOOLS<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; LETTER-SPACING: -0.75pt; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 21pt">Vote
Yes on Question 3<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 22pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt">Oct.
1, 2009<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 22pt">Repeal
unfair consolidation mandate and start over<BR></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">The coalition backing repeal of the
school consolidation law on the Nov. 3 ballot is refuting claims by the Baldacci
administration that the mandate is working, releasing numbers showing it is a
failed experiment that has been politically manipulated to let some school
districts off the hook while threatening others with $5 million in
penalties.</SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 18pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">On its new
website -- <A
href="http://www.repealconsolidation.com">www.repealconsolidation.com</A>
-- that went live Oct. 1, the Maine Coalition to Save Schools used the
Department of Education’s own data to show the law has not worked, is too rigid
and unfair and hasn’t saved the kind of money that was
promised.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"> “</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">Despite a goal of reducing Maine’s
290 districts to 80 by July 1 of this year, 218 remain. The state says it cannot
quantify any savings so far as a result of consolidation, but has spent more
than $4 million to try and enforce it. At the same time, property taxpayers in
merged districts are seeing their tax rates go up – in one instance by 25
percent,” the coalition wrote.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">Using the
DOE’s latest update on consolidation efforts, an analysis shows there are
66 districts, representing 55 percent of the state’s enrollment, that were not
forced to consolidate because of size, location or other special dispensations
granted by the department or the Legislature.<BR>“Yet citizens in the more than
100 districts that were ordered to consolidate, but voted against it, are being
threatened with $5 million in penalties simply for exercising their democratic
rights,” the coalition says. And those districts are in some of the state’s
poorest counties.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">“The state
told people upfront they would be penalized if they didn’t vote for
consolidation and that’s just not right in a democracy,” said Skip Greenlaw,
head of the coalition. “Even with that threat hanging over their heads, 88,916
voters said no to the mandate because they thought it was a bad idea for their
communities and their schools.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">The law is
also too rigid, he said.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">There is no
way for a town to get out of a regional district after it joins one, and the law
does not recognize voluntary cooperation among districts as a legal alternative
to forced consolidation – cooperatives that could apply to any district in the
state regardless of size or location.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">“We need to
repeal this law and start working on something that makes sense for everybody.
Everyone knows we have to find efficiencies and cut costs, but forced
consolidation isn’t working,” Greenlaw said.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">The Maine
Coalition to Save Schools gathered the needed signatures to put repeal before
the voters. It is Question 3 on the November ballot.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'">CONTACT:
Skip Greenlaw at 367-2738 or 460-1260 or email the campaign via the link under
the contact button on the website <A
href="http://www.repealconsolidation.com">www.repealconsolidation.com</A>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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