Legislators this week start their examination in earnest of Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed state budget, as the enormity of his plan to reduce the number of school districts in the state from 290 to 26 begins to sink in.

The $6.4 billion, two-year budget would be contentious enough for some without the school district consolidation plan. It also includes a proposed $1-a-pack hike in the cigarette tax, which would bring Maine’s state tax to $3 – the highest rate in the nation. With the tax hike, the average price of a pack of cigarettes would be $7, which Baldacci said he hopes will get more people to quit. The proposal is expected to raise $131 million over two years.

There also is a plan to increase class size in the state’s middle and high schools to 17, which would lead to the elimination of 600 teaching positions for a savings of $25 million over two years. Those posts would be cut largely through freezing vacancies, particularly as older teachers retire, the administration said.

Another proposal cuts $73 million out of the Department of Health and Human Services by managing care in behavior health services and for adult Medicaid recipients and setting standard rates for certain types of services.

The budget not only fills a gap between the cost of programs and anticipated state revenue over the next two years, it also sets Maine on a course to regionalize its now locally controlled school administrative districts to save money in the long run.

Legislative leaders from both sides of the aisle were reluctant to either fully embrace or reject the governor’s proposals when they sat together in a joint press conference after the budget was released on Friday.

“This is a bold and decisive looking budget, making some very difficult decisions and taking action,” said Sen. President Beth Edmonds. “We’re prepared to take this on and make it our own through the Legislative budget process,” she said, repeating the adage “The governor proposes and the Legislature disposes.”

Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Hancock, the assistant minority leader, declined to comment on the overall package, saying Republicans were in the room to show they “support the process not necessarily the product.”

He did praise the governor for being willing to tackle some difficult issues.

“He’s waded into an area that is highly sensitive and controversial,” Rosen said.

“There are pieces in this budget both parties have concerns about,” added House Speaker Glenn Cummings.

When pressed on specifics, like the hike in the cigarette tax, Rep. Robert Crosthwaite, R-Ellsworth, the assistant minority leader in the House, said of Republicans, “We’re known for not being in favor of more taxes, regardless of what they are, so that’s something we’ll have to address.”

Edmonds said the jury was still out on the $1-a-pack hike. “My father died of lung cancer. I don’t have any problem with cigarette taxes, but I realize others do,” she said.

School district consolidation

The bombshell in the budget is the proposed consolidation of school districts, from the current 290 to 26. The 152 superintendents, who currently run those districts, also would be cut to 26 and they would answer to 26 regional school boards.

While Baldacci has pledged his plan would not close any schools, it does eliminate local control because local school committees would at best serve in an advisory capacity or be eliminated when the plan goes into effect in July of 2008.

“I think the question is whether or not we have done the hard work on the state government level that we are expecting on the local level,” said Sen. Carol Weston, R-Waldo County, the minority leader in the Senate.

Cummings questioned if the consolidation plan could happen as fast as the governor’s wants.

“We have to look at the practicality of a very fast collapse” of a structure that’s been in place for years, he said.

The plan is supposed to save $240 million over three years in state and local education funding, $36 million of which is booked as savings in the second year of the state budget.

Some of the money also would be used to expand the laptop program from seventh and eighth grade into Grades 9 through 12; put a full-time principal in the 151 schools statewide currently without one; pay for a promised raise in entry-level teacher salaries; and pay for scholarships to needy Mainers attending state colleges.

Baldacci is using the state’s increased aid to local education, which will hit $1 billion a year, or 55 percent of the cost by 2009, as leverage for the changes.

“We need to assure that money being spent on education is used to support students and teachers in the classroom,” Baldacci said, not administrative costs. His goal is to decrease the administrative cost per student from the current $346 to $186.

“We must support excellence in education; not excess administration,” he said, repeating a line he used in his inaugural address last Wednesday night.

District configuration

The 26 school districts essentially would mirror the regional vocational education schools already serving the state.

There would be administrative districts centered in Madawaska, Caribou, Presque Isle, Houlton, Calais, Machias, Ellsworth, Bangor, Lincoln, Dexter, Belfast, Rockland, Skowhegan, Waterville, Augusta, Bath, Brunswick, Lewiston, Farmington, Rumford, Oxford, Bridgton, Portland, Westbrook, Biddeford and Sanford. Locally, those district would include:

Region 22 in Bridgton encompassing Stoneham, Stow, Lovell, Fryeburg, Sweden, Bridgton, Brownfield, Denmark, Porter, Hiram, Naples, Casco, Raymond, Baldwin, Parsonfield, Cornish and Sebago.

Region 23 in Portland encompassing New Gloucester, Pownal, Gray, North Yarmouth, Cumberland, Falmouth, Portland, South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Long Island, Yarmouth and Chebeague Island.

Region 24 in Westbrook encompassing Standish, Windham, Limington, Westbrook, Gorham, Buxton, Hollis, Scarborough and Frye Island.

Region 25 in Biddeford encompassing Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Dayton, Arundel, Biddeford, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.

Region 26 in Sanford encompassing Newfield, Limerick, Waterboro, Acton, Shapleigh, Alfred, Lyman Lebanon, Sanford, Berwick, North Berwick, South Berwick, Wells, Ogunquit, York, Eliot and Kittery.