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May 15, 2009 Jay Finegan, 287-1445
Bill to Exempt School Union 60 & School Union 37 from Consolidation Mandate Advances in Legislature

AUGUSTA – School Union 60, serving Greenville and the surrounding towns and School Union 37, serving Rangeley and surrounding communities, most likely will be exempted from the laws requiring school administration consolidation, according to State Reps Pete Johnson and Jarrod Crockett, who cosponsored the enabling legislation and guided it through the committee process.

On May 4, the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee voted unanimously for a bill that exempts three school systems from the consolidation mandate. The other is SAD 12, serving Jackman and Moose River. The committee released its report today.

Bills that emerge from committee with unanimous support almost always pass the full House and Senate, according to Rep. Crockett (R-Bethel). This legislation, LD 467, carries an emergency preamble, which means it will take effect when signed by the governor. Non-emergency bills that become law do not go into effect until 90 days after the Legislature adjourns, which is scheduled for June 17.

The three school systems exempted from the regionalization requirements are considered geographically isolated and impractical to consolidate. That designation exempts them from the mandate to form regional school units with a student population of at least 1,200. School Union 60 will have approximately 245 students. Under the terms of the legislation, the commissioner of the Department of Education is required to treat the three systems in a manner similar to the treatment of coastal islands.

There will be no penalties or other legal complications, according to Rep. Johnson, a second-term legislator who serves on the Education Committee. “This is good news for Greenville,” he said. “I had an amendment last year to exempt Greenville; it was tabled indefinitely, but I resurrected it this session. School Union 60 went through the process as required by law, but it was never to Greenville’s advantage. Under some scenarios we would have had a regional union that spanned more than 100 miles.”

School Union 60 serves the Towns of Greenville, Shirley, Beaver Cove and Willimantic and Kingsbury Plantation. School Union 37 serves the Towns of Rangeley, Dallas Plantation, Lincoln Plantation, Magalloway Plantation, Rangeley Plantation and Sandy River Plantation.

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