New "Leahw"

A look at the new revisions to the education consolidation ("administrative consolidation") law shows, I think you'll agree, that you can work 'til midnight, but you're not necessarily doing your best work at that hour.

Look at the law itself (LD 2323, An Act To Remove Barriers to the Reorganization of School Administrative Units), or at the summary provided (so helpful!) by the Department of Education.

Here's a part we really like:

§ 1478. Local school committees

1. Formation. A reorganization plan under section 1461 or a regional school unit board may authorize the formation of a local school committee for a member municipality established in accordance with chapter 111, subchapter 1.

2. Delegation of functions. A reorganization plan that has been approved in accordance with subchapter 2 or a regional school unit board may delegate a local school committee to perform any duties, functions and services other than those reserved to the regional school unit under subchapter 1. The core functions provided by a regional school unit pursuant to section 1452 may be supplemented at the expense of any member municipality.

3. Budget responsibility. A reorganization plan that has been approved in accordance with subchapter 2 or a regional school unit board may authorize a local school committee to present to the board a proposed budget for the local school in a form that is consistent with section 1485. The proposed local school budget must be submitted in time to be included in the budget for the regional school unit. Proposed expenditures that are not included in the regional school unit budget may be separately appropriated by the municipality to be expended by the regional school unit in accordance with the appropriation. Supplemental municipal appropriations for education are not subject to section 1486.

4. Title to property. School property overseen by a local school committee may be owned either by the municipality or by the regional school unit as long as there is a clear allocation of responsibilities for management of all of the school property in the regional school unit.

This is a tasty bit:

Sec. 6. 20-A MRSA §1464, sub-§4 is enacted to read:

4. Application of collective bargaining agreements. On or after the operational date of a regional school unit established pursuant to section 1463, subsection 1 but before the completion of negotiations for a single regional school unit-wide collective bargaining agreement for the regional school unit-wide bargaining unit as described in subsection 3, the wages, hours and working conditions of an employee of the regional school unit who is in a bargaining unit and who is reassigned to a different position that is or, upon the completion of the merger of bargaining units, will be included in the same regional school unit-wide bargaining unit are determined by the terms of the existing collective bargaining agreement that applies to the position to which the employee is reassigned, except as provided in this subsection.

A. If the application of the existing collective bargaining agreement would cause a reduction in the employee's wage or salary rate, the employee's wage or salary rate must be maintained at the rate the employee was paid immediately prior to the reassignment until the completion of negotiations for a single regional school unit-wide collective bargaining agreement for the regional school unit-wide bargaining unit as described in subsection 3 or the applicable collective bargaining agreement or any interim successor agreement requires a higher wage or salary rate for the employee, whichever occurs sooner.

B. If the application of the existing collective bargaining agreement would cause a reduction in the amount that is paid by the regional school unit for premiums for health insurance for the employee and the employee's dependents, the regional school unit's payment must be maintained at the amount that was paid immediately prior to the reassignment until the completion of negotiations for a single regional school unit-wide collective bargaining agreement for the regional school unit-wide bargaining unit as described in subsection 3 or the applicable collective bargaining agreement or any interim successor agreement requires a higher payment, whichever occurs sooner.

C. If the application of the existing collective bargaining agreement provides for coverage under a different health insurance plan, the employee may elect to retain coverage under the health insurance plan in which the employee was enrolled immediately prior to reassignment if the eligibility provisions of the plan permit until the completion of negotiations for a single regional school unit-wide collective bargaining agreement for the regional school unit-wide bargaining unit as described in subsection 3.

This will be of local interest:

Sec. 13. 20-A MRSA §1479, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 240, Pt. XXXX, §13, is amended to read:

5. Additional expense. If, pursuant to subsection 4, a student attends a public school in another school administrative unit or private school approved for tuition purposes subject to the provisions of chapter 219, and the number of secondary school students from one or more municipalities in a regional school unit that attend a public school in a different school administrative unit or an approved private school is less than all the secondary school students in the regional school unit, the sending municipality of the regional school unit is responsible for the additional expense calculated under this subsection. In a regional school unit where some but not all of the students are attending school pursuant to this section, the sending municipality is responsible for the additional expense as calculated in accordance with this subsection.

A. For each secondary school student who attends a public school in another school administrative unit, the sending municipality in a regional school unit is responsible for an amount equal to the number of secondary school students from that regional school unit multiplied by the amount that the receiving regional school unit’s tuition rate pursuant to section 5805 difference in tuition in cases when it exceeds the amount of the sending regional school unit’s tuition rate pursuant to calculated in accordance with section 5805.

B. For each secondary school student who attends a private school approved for tuition purposes subject to the provisions of chapter 219, the sending municipality in a regional school unit is responsible for an amount equal to the number of secondary school students from the regional school unit attending the private school multiplied by the amount that the private school’s tuition rate pursuant to section 5806, or the tuition rate per the contract, if less, the difference in tuition in cases when it exceeds the amount of the sending regional school unit’s tuition rate pursuant to calculated in accordance with section 5805.

Any Municipalities exercising school choice pursuant to this section are responsible for a local contribution in accordance with section 15688 and the additional expense may not be included in the regional school unit budget when determining each member municipality's local contribution calculated in accordance with this subsection.

There's much more of interest: cost-sharing, the budget validation process (and Thursday's today's clarification from the DOE), allocation of debt and debt service, reorganization timelines, and "alternative organizational structures."

That's not a typo in the post title; just as Inspector Clouseau mangles the word "law" in the Pink Panther movies, many feel that so too the solons of Augusta have mangled the real thing.

Skip Greenlaw, who's not half so giddy as some about the result, provides some additional insights into the process.