From money drain to money saver

Maine's superintendents attended a budget strategy session in Augusta earlier today. Education Commissioner Susan Gendron called the meeting as state lawmakers look for ways to cut up to $80 million from the $5.8 billion biennial budget they passed in May.

"Everybody's trying to get at the right strategy for reducing our costs without impacting our children," Gendron told the dozens of superintendents who met at the Augusta Elks Club.

The cost-cutting ideas the school officials shared rarely involved direct hits to the classroom. A year-long universal pay freeze, more careful identification of students who require special education services and consolidation of auditing contracts were among the suggestions shared.

More than one superintendent also spoke in favor of a statewide teacher contract as a way to help districts cut down on the time officials spend negotiating contracts and reduce the legal fees they incur during negotiations.

The discussion hearkened back to one key school district consolidation debate.

As districts reacted to Maine's consolidation mandate last year, a number of consolidation critics said district mergers wouldn't save money because a newly consolidated, regional school unit would eventually need to make individual teacher contracts uniform. While there's no law saying a consolidated contract needs to reflect the highest salaries, the assumption was that the higher-paid bargaining units wouldn't settle for the lower pay of other teachers in their consolidated district.

Now, superintendents are talking about a unified contract as a money saver. What would that sort of contract look like?

The savings might come, not from instituting a statewide contract, but from unifying contracts by region, suggested one superintendent. That might ensure the salary swings aren't so great, and that they stay within salary ranges -- or labor markets -- set by Maine's Essential Programs and Services-based funding formula.