Too many superintendents? More may be on the way as wave of withdrawal efforts hit Maine school districts in 2012

By Mario Moretto, BDN Staff

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Posted Dec. 25, 2012, at 5:18 p.m.
Last modified Dec. 25, 2012, at 5:47 p.m.

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/12/25/news/state/too-many-superintendents-more-may-be-on-the-way-as-wave-of-withdrawal-efforts-hit-maine-school-districts-in-2012/

Gov. Paul LePage again recently railed against Maine for having too many school superintendents. This time, he told the audience at a Chamber of Commerce event in Bangor earlier this month that Maine was the worst in the country when it came to administrators based on population: 127 administrators overseeing 186,000 students.
The state tried to tackle the too-many-superintendents problem in 2009, with a law requiring small school administrative units to consolidate into larger ones. The idea was that fewer, larger districts would mean fewer superintendents and other central office positions. Money would be saved by pooling resources, and successful education programs in one school could be shared with its new district-mates.
Not everyone complied, but in the end, 41 new districts were created and 39 former districts already were big enough to be compliant under the new law. By 2011, only 56 units were not compliant.
But the consolidation effort seems to be fraying. This year — the first when towns are allowed to leave those new districts — nearly one-third of the districts created under the consolidation law have faced withdrawal efforts as member communities seek to leave their Regional School Units and go it alone.
Of the new districts created by consolidation law, 14 faced withdrawal bids from one or more towns in 2012. Additionally, nine RSUs that were simply rebranded by the law, which were functionally the same as their preconsolidation districts, also faced withdrawal bids.

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