Dark Clouds Gather over Maine Public Schools

As a member of the school board of RSU/MSAD 40, I was recently asked by a citizen of my town to sum up what was happening on the local education front. What follows constitutes my response.

Dear____________,

In replying to your questions please understand above all else that I speak only for myself as a private citizen and Board member, not for the Board as a whole. With that understood:

Perhaps the biggest problem facing RSU/MSAD 40 is the same faced by all Maine districts--funding.  

      We are facing the very ugly menace of the possible Sequester of education (and other) funding on January 2, 2013. For an explanation see:  http://www.aasa.org/uploadedFiles/Policy_and_Advocacy/files/AASA%20Sequestration%20July%202012.pdf  as well as http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/. 

     The Maine DOE in anticipation of Sequestration has suggested that districts keep within 75% of budget while this threat remains. After placing our children on a very lean education “diet” we are being told to cut back still further.

      Congress is dragging its feet on the re-authorization of the ESEA (now known as NCLB—No Child Left Behind). This law in its current form obviously needs extensive amending

(http://www.nsba.org/Advocacy/Key Issues/NCLB/ProposedRecommendations ).

      Because Maine public schools rely heavily upon funding provided through NCLB, we are applying for easements from some of NCLG’s more onerous requirements (http://www.pressherald.com/news/finding-new-way-to-grade-schools_2012-09-04.html?pageType=mobile&id=1) Here in Maine, most of our schools are eligible for Title 1 funding that goes to schools where 40% or more of the students receive free or reduced price lunches. Even a cursory internet search of either NCLB or ESEA with emphasis on “re-authorization” will reveal much to the curious.

5    Some Maine districts already are receiving push-back from their taxpayers when proposed education budgets are submitted. Less federal funding, the federal threat of sequestration of much of what is provided and with the state unable or unwilling to meet their legal share of education funding even with a formula that is under review for its possible (read definite) unfairness to rural schools are joining together to place public school districts between a rock and a hard place.

(http://bangordailynews.com/2012/09/11/news/mid-maine/rsu-19s-superintendent-lays-out-scenarios-cuts-to-address-3m-budget-deficit/)

6    Add to this the specter of needed local funds being siphoned off by charter, digital, and other private-enterprise-for-profit and non-profit schools in the name of “choice” and the problem grows exponentially. Large private corporations are moving into a perceived vacuum seeing much potential profit in Maine’s educational dollars.  Unlike these new entities, Maine’s public schools, with little appreciation and growing criticism, must and do provide an education to all Maine's citizens

.

With regard to a Digital Learning Policy; as a state we have none. Although our legislature has made some progress (Maine Revised Statute Title 20-A, Chapter 802: MAINE ONLINE LEARNING PROGRAM) the state DOE has dropped the ball. Unlike the state of Washington which leads the way in examining and proposing policy in this crucial area (http://digitallearning.k12.wa.us/about/reports/Online_Learning_District_Policy_Report_to_Legislature.pdf), (http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/state-has-outsourced-policy-on-virtual-schools_2012-09-05.html) and (http://bangordailynews.com/2012/09/06/opinion/would-you-send-your-child-to-a-virtual-school/) 

Also on the policy front: This was a very busy year for the Maine Legislature as they considered and passed a record number of Bills directly affecting public schools—so many that I found it necessary to attend a full day seminar given by the legal firm Drummond and Woodsum to try to understand the implications for the district I serve. Among the new Laws that will each require substantial work on local policy, are:

Changes to Maine’s Freedom of Access Statute

Changes to Maine’s Teacher and Principal Evaluation Laws

Changes to Maine’s Student Expulsion Statute

 Amendments to Maine’s Truancy Law

Changes to Maine’s Bullying Statute

Standards-Based Graduation Requirements

Changes to Student Enrollment Laws

Changes to Main’s Rules on Student Restraint and Seclusion

New Statute and Rules dealing with Head Injury/Concussion

This is a very busy year for our education professionals and policy makers. I can only pray that all this effort somehow compliments the education of our children. As parents, grandparents and citizens it up to us to guarantee it does. No government entity will do it for us.