Maine School Consolidation Plan Under Fire

Governor sees savings and greater efficiency; critics warn of closures.

Augusta, Maine

For Maine Gov. John E. Baldacci, consolidating the state’s hundreds of school districts into a network of just over two dozen “Regional Centers” makes educational and fiscal sense. Paring the administration, he argues, would let the state and local superintendents concentrate on student achievement—and save $250 million in the first three years.

But anxious educators throughout this sprawling state fear that Gov. Baldacci’s proposal would sweep aside local control, cost hundreds of administrators their jobs, and force schools in some of the smallest, most isolated districts to shut down.

Both views were on full display here at a marathon hearing last week at the Augusta Civic Center, which drew a crowd of more than 500 for 11 hours of testimony, most of it...