Maine needs to consolidate school districts. The evidence is overwhelming.

• Maine has 734 students per school district – a small number when compared to the national average of 3,200.

• Maine’s school population is shrinking – from a little more than 200,000 to an estimated 177,000 in 10 years.

• The state has an administrator for every 11 teachers – the ninth highest ratio in the country.

• Only seven states spend more than Maine on schools when calculated per pupil. However, 34 states have higher teacher salaries.

It’s statistics like those that have led three groups – the Maine Children’s Alliance, the state Board of Education and the Brookings Institution – to call on the state to cut down on school overhead and administration and increase teacher salaries.

Despite the statistics and the advice from influential organizations, consolidating school districts is bound to meet substantial political resistance. It will be running up against something important to many Mainers – local control. Of the services people like to control, public schools are probably among the most important to them.

Getting any significant work done will require strong leadership and political will from the governor and state legislators, who will have to convince people in this state that consolidating schools would improve the quality of education and save money without jeopardizing local control. They will also have to provide real incentives for districts that consolidate and disincentives for those that stick with the status quo.

This is a statewide challenge, as much as it is a local one. As the state inches toward its ever-elusive goal of paying 55 percent of the cost of education, more and more of the income tax, and less of the property tax, collected in this state will be spent on schools. That means state officials need to take the lead in demonstrating why reforming Maine’s school system would be the best thing for the state.

“We’ve poured all kinds of new money into K through 12, and in many cases property taxes didn’t come down. Money was soaked up by the system and our academic results are flat-lined. Now there’s something wrong with that system,” said Sen. Peter Mills, R-Somerset County.

It would improve schools to spend more money on teacher salaries and less on overhead and administration. Higher teacher salaries would make Maine more competitive for teachers and make teaching a more attractive profession for talented young people who want to stay in this state.

Consolidating districts would definitely save money. Exactly how much is unclear. Reducing what the state spends per pupil to the national average of $195 – an ambitious goal – would save the state $25 million a year. However, eliminating every superintendent in the state – an obviously unreasonable goal – would eliminate only $12 million in base salaries. That means much of the savings would have to be found in the overhead costs of running schools – buildings and supplies.

Which brings us to what is likely the biggest obstacle standing in the way of district consolidation – convincing people that they will continue to have control over their local schools, and they will continue to have local schools.

Anyone who has seen a principal stand like a deer in the headlights in front of a room full of angry PTA members knows that organized parents are often just as, if not more, influential as residents testifying before a school board, which frequently works closely with superintendents. And, local schools will remain open as long as they have enough students to attend them. If they don’t, residents should be reevaluating the use of the building.

Despite all these arguments, many people will be disinclined to gamble with the quality of education for children in this state. That’s why the governor and legislators will have to make the case that they’ve done their homework and know what’s best for the state.

Then they’ve got to have the politicall will to carry it out.

-Brendan Moran, editor