MDIschools.net

Maine School Management Association Bulletin
 

Jan. 28, 2009
 

Voters reject 14 out of 18 plans

Voters on Tuesday rejected 14 school consolidation plans and approved four, pushing the percentage of those turned down by voters since the mandate was passed to 54 percent.

The tally now stands at 25 rejected and 21 approved.

Tuesday’s vote, where 18 plans were up for consideration, was the largest test of the school consolidation law since Election Day in November, when 17 plans were decided. The other votes were scattered throughout 2008, with a handful held earlier this month.

The state-imposed deadline for voters to approve or reject plans is Jan. 30, with no more votes scheduled between now and then.

In some cases, plans were written to allow a unit to be formed with the towns that approved, even if some voted against. The key was hitting the minimum number of 1,200 students allowed in the law.

In the case of the proposed merger of the Maranacook CSD with Fayette and Winthtrop in Kennebec County, for example, the CSD voted in favor of the plan, and Fayette and Winthrop rejected  it. Maranacook, which is over the 1,200-student minimum, can now apply to be a Regional School Unit on its own, leaving Fayette and Winthrop without partners.

In the case of Caribou, Fort Fairfield, Caswell, Westmanland, Stockholm, New Sweden, Woodland and Limestone, their proposal was written to allow the plan to move forward with only some of the towns, if those towns represent 59 percent of the student population.

In the Great Salt Bay CSD, Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor CSD, Bristol, Edgecomb, Jefferson, Nobleboro, South Bristol, Southport proposal, their plan also says that if the vote is split, but enough communities decide to form a unit, it will move ahead, if approved by the commissioner of education. In that case, Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor, South Edgecomb and Southport rejected the plan, but the rest approved it.
 

Those rejected on Tuesday, according to unofficial tallies, include:
-         Blue Hill, Brooklin, Brooksville, Castine, Deer Isle-Stonington CSD, Penobscot, Sedgwick, Surry
-         Great Salt Bay CSD, Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor CSD, Bristol, Edgecomb, Jefferson, Nobleboro, South Bristol, Southport
-         Five-Town CSD
-         MSAD 74, MSAD 13, MSAD 59, Caratunk, Pleasant Ridge Plt. and Dennistown
-         MSAD 67, MSAD 31, MSAD 30, Carroll Plt., Drew Plt., Macwahoc Plt., Glenwood Plt., Reed Plt., Seboeis Plt., Lakeville, Medford, Lowell and Woodville
-         East Millinocket, Medway and Millinocket
-         MSAD 44, Dallas Plantation, Gilead, Lincoln Plantation, Magalloway Plantation, Rangeley, Rangeley Plantation, Sandy River Plantation and Upton
-         MSAD 4, MSAD 46, Harmony and Willimantic
-         Maranacook CSD, Fayette and Winthrop
-         MSAD 68, MSAD 41, MSAD 12, Greenville, Shirley, Beaver Cove, Bowerbank
-         MSAD 36 and Jay
-         Brewer, Dedham, Orrington, Airline CSD and MSAD 63
-         MSAD 10 and MSAD 27
-         MSAD 14, MSAD 25, MSAD 70, South Aroostook CSD, Bancroft, Hersey, Moro Plantation and Orient

Those approved include:
-         Old Town, Alton, Bradley, Greenbush and Milford (partially approved)
-         Bucksport, Orland and MSAD 18
-         Orono, Veazie and Glenburn
-         Caribou, MSAD 20, Caswell, Westmanland, Stockholm, New Sweden, Woodland and Limestone (partially approved)