Let the Discussion Begin!

Since last Thursday, when the Governor sketched out his proposed budget, details of his plans for education have begun to emerge. These include increases in class size and probably most importantly, reduction in the number of school districts from 152 to 26 . These would be co-extensive with the present technical center regions. SAD #46, then, would be combined with SAD #48 (Newport), SAD #41 (Milo), SAD #68 (Dover-Foxcroft), SAD #4 (Guilford, and Union #60 (Greenville), for a total of 40 towns in the new regional district. The Department of Education's informational pages for this plan, called "Local Schools, Regional Support", are here.

Here at Voters, we will be discussing aspects of the plan in a series of posts, as issues emerge and as the public discussion proceeds.

We begin today, besides pointing to the Department web pages, by referring to the Brookings Institution report on the Maine economy, Charting Maine's Future, released in October 2006. Many observers have pointed to this report as the source and justification for the Baldacci initiative. The full report is available here, along with an Executive Summary and supporting reports.

Over at the Articles of Interest web site, we've already pointed to several articles from state newspapers that deal with this topic; more will be added daily.