Blue Ribbon Commission



Blue Ribbon Commission



                                                           Blue Ribbon - of high quality

     I have been attending the meetings of the Commission to Reform Public Education Funding and Improve Student Performance in Maine. It has been referred to as the Blue Ribbon Commission since it was created by the Legislature last year. After a controversial closed door first meeting in April, the following 4 meetings have been open to the public. There are 2 more scheduled meetings. The primary focus of the committee has been:

1. "Public Education Finances and Expenditures - How do we more

effectively and equitably raise and spend over $3 billion

of local, state, and federal tax revenues per year for Maine's

public K-12 and higher education?" (Pre-k has since been part

of the discussion.)

2. "Educational Achievement - What are Maine's overarching public

K-12 and higher education student achievement goals and how

do we better align them with Maine's prosperity and quality of

life's aspirations?"

 

"Commission Outcome: A transformative grand bargain/action plan"

Potential : Commission members, together, have the capacity to carry

out substantive change where there is 'consensus' on desired 'outcomes'.

 

 

Here is a link for reading the specific supporting documents for each meeting. http://www.maine.gov/doe/blue-ribbon/index.html   Look on page 3 of the agenda of the closed door April 25, 2016 meeting to read, in part, ...."identify specific data/analysis needs for subsequent executive discussion, policy formation, and decision-making.."  Executive discussion, policy formation?  This sounds like reference to the Governor rather than the Legislature? Who will this Blue Ribbon Commission report its recommendations to, the Governor or the Legislature? It has been reported that this Commission's report will go to the Legislature. Look at the list of possible items the commission members might examine.  Might is a good word. The list is exhaustive and represents enough data for much debate.

     Now let's review some recent past statements made by the Governor. He has criticized.the MEA, the state's teacher's union. He has told local school boards to 'get out of his way'. He has most recently indicated that he will not include money for school superintendents in this coming year's budget. Teachers (through their negotiated contracts), school boards, and superintendents are all targets. He sees them as obstacles to getting his education agenda operational. The BOCES system in NY is one that he might like because it essentially has few checks and balances on state control over local education.

      Examine the BOCES October 31st agenda item and the documents provided. BOCES is New York's Boards of Cooperative Education Services and was established by law to 'provide shared services when 2 or more school districts have similar needs; 77 geographic entities were originally established and have since geographically consolidated to 37; the BOCES services schools can purchase include regional information centers (student information systems, school library systems, technology support to school districts); administrative and back office services (business services, payroll, substitute/itinerant teachers); advanced career tech programs (computer science, medical and dental assistants, LPN, food services)and remote learning/TV instruction (on line classes, especially specialized subjects like physics, foreign languages). Once a consolidated school system joins and begins using services, it is required to stay 'for life', there is no withdrawing from BOCES. The state approves the terms of a cooperative service agreement to receive BOCES aid, then school districts pay for services in the year service is provided, file claims for BOCES services and, if approved, the school district is reimbursed in varying amounts in the following fiscal year based on factors like district property wealth. Most districts can't afford not to use BOCES services because the aid is more favorable than the base aid districts receive.

     What is the role of the 'District Superintendent' in New York? This position is part time local and part time state. It is the chief administrative officer of the BOCES and oversees BOCES operations, but is also a field representative for the state Commissioner of Education, carrying out state initiatives. BOCES boards hire the District Superintendents, but only with the approval of the Commissioner.  Whenever a District Superintendent leaves or retires, the state studies the BOCES and usually results in further consolidation of BOCES units over time. Fewer and fewer true representatives of the towns' schools, larger and larger consolidated districts, and more and more state control. When the presenter, James Kadamus a former deputy and associate commissioner of school finance in NY, was asked if there had been any evaluative studies about the effectiveness of the BOCES system, the answer was 'no'. When asked if any studies had been done to determine if the BOCES system produced any cost savings, the answer was 'no'. Is this the model we want for Maine? It is if you want less local control, more state control. It is if you want to effectively eliminate superintendents in Maine and make them agents of the state to carry out state initiatives. It is if you want a state wide teacher contract which would reduce the strength of the teachers' union. Mr. Kadamus said during his presentation, "It gets pretty political at times." 

     Maine needs and wants teachers who can concentrate on their daily teaching and student learning while backed by a strong union to support a professional salary and working conditions, rather than a state contract controlled by politicians in Augusta. Maine needs and wants strong superintendents who are local leaders supporting educational programs for local students rather than a state education commissioner who might be manipulated by the political winds blowing in Augusta, and increasingly other parts of the country which bring their political agendas to Maine. And Maine needs local school boards to establish local policies and budgets that support their local schools.

     Maine needs and wants stability in its educational system.