With the passage of the Reorganization Law behind us, now begins the hard work of implementing the law in a way that works best for students locally.  Many communities are already well underway - they've had meetings with neighboring school units, invited in municipal officials, asked for financial data from the Department of Education, and brought on facilitators at DOE expense to guide them through the process.

Several communities have filed their Notices of Intent to reorganize, and many have already created their local Reorganization Planning Committees.

Get involved!

What is most important at this point in the process is for parents, community members, school board members, municipal officials and anyone interested in the successful reorganization of local school administrative units to become involved in the process.

Don't wait for notices of public meetings - contact your superintendent, school board members or municipal officials and ask how you can be a part of the discussions.  As written, the law requires involvement by school representatives, municipal representatives, and members of the general public, but it leaves most other decisions about the process up to locals.  For reorganization to succeed at the local level, there must be lots of public discussion and the involvement of many different voices.

Sincerely,



Susan A. Gendron
Commissioner

If you are a member of a Reorganization Planning Committee, a school board, or a municipal official, parent, community member or anyone interested in the details of the planning process, be sure to visit the Planning and Resources page on our website for Guidelines, various forms, PowerPoints and other materials available to assist in your planning.

Here are a few questions that were asked repeatedly at our regional informational meetings and the answers.  You can find these and many others on the Q&A page of our website.

 

• Requirements for each RSU to have a high school.  Each RSU's plan must provide comprehensive programming for all K-12 students, and must include a public or publicly-supported private high school(s). There is not a requirement that the high school be physically located in the RSU or municipal school unit so long as there is a contractual relationship (or contractual relationships) ensuring that all students - including those in special education and alternative education - are provided comprehensive programming. Please note that RSUs that choose to provide K-12 programming for all students in their RSU without having a public high school within the RSU are likely to face challenges in meeting this requirement.  Solid contractual relationships must be shown to meet this requirement and it may not be easy to find high schools - public or private -  willing to commit to taking all students.
  
  
• Budget validation referendum. All school administrative units (SAUs) are subject to the new budget preparation and approval process, including the requirement for a budget validation referendum, for the 2008-09 school year (all budgets prepared after January 1, 2008).  This corrects earlier information suggesting a phased-in requirement for different types of SAUs. The requirement in the new law is found in four different places and makes this process a requirement for all forms of SAUs. (Public Law 2007, Chapter 240, Part XXXX-11 (now at 20-A MRSA §1305-C), XXXX-13 (now at 20-A MRSA §§1482-1486), XXXX-16 (now at 20-A MRSA §1701-C), and XXXX-21 (now at 20-A MRSA §2307)
  
  
• Who must go through the process?  ALL school administrative units, whatever the current structure and whatever size - SADs, CSDs and municipal school units (city/town/plantation), small and large mustwork with other units to reorganize into larger, more efficient units; or where expansion of the unit would be impractical or inconsistent with state policy, reorganize their own administrative structures to reduce costs. A school union is not an SAU - each of the municipal units that make up a school union is an SAU and each must work to reorganize, each must file a Notice of Intent, and each must file a Reorganization or Alternative Plan.
  
  
• What exhibits due diligence?  Due diligence: the expectations of any responsible person; good faith effort; applying the right attitude; taking the necessary steps to fairly and considerately explore all options.
  
  Due diligence may be evidenced by documenting exploration of reasonable options, financial and other analyses, public involvement, and other activities aimed at reorganizing according to the law.  The SAU and/or Reorganization Planning Committee should maintain documentation of:  public meetings and planning committee meetings; minutes and meetings within the SAU; correspondence with other SAUs and meetings with other SAUs. It is expected that each SAU will utilize data in the process and access facilitation services as determined appropriate by the SAU.  This list is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather illustrative.

Learn the answers to more commonly asked questions.

We've posted new information on the website - more than 20 questions and answers, new forms for Reorganization Planning Committees and school units, the list of facilitators and more.  Remind colleagues and others in your community to sign up for these updates, also at the website: www.maine.gov/education/supportingschools.

People following the Reorganization process are certainly aware of the date: August 31.  It is a deadline, according to the Reorganization Law - the date by which every one of the state's 290 SAUs must file a Notice of Intent describing its intentions - who they plan to reorganize with, or why they meet the criteria to allow an exception.

In some cases, units will still be holding discussions with more than one set of potential partners.  In those cases, SAUs should submit a Notice of Intent that describes the several options still being explored.

After August 31 the work really begins on the detailed reorganization planning.  Reorganization Planning Committees should be formed very quickly, if they haven't already been formed before that date. The committees will engage in the hard work of negotiating details of the new partnerships - what happens to existing debts; how do we merge curricula; how can we rearrange key personnel so as to achieve savings and minimize disruptions to people's professional lives.

If your Reorganization Planning Committee doesn't yet have a facilitator, please ask the DOE for assistance in choosing one.  We will pay for the cost - you get to choose who you want.  If you have someone in mind who is not on our list of approved facilitators, let's talk - we are prepared to offer the training to a facilitator of your choice, provided he or she is willing to meet the criteria specified by the DOE.