The Maine Department of Education has just issued an informational letter concerning emergency rules (one has to wonder where the fire is!) for construction of “a Model of Consolidated and Integrated Secondary and Postsecondary Education.”

This “model would include

facilities for:

1. A regional high school;
2. A fully integrated career and technical high school;
3. A higher education center that will provide courses and degrees from both the University of Maine System and the Maine Community College System; and
4. Centers of excellence that will provide industry-specific training.

All this on one campus.

This has the look and feel of a private bill, that is, an action taken by a governmental body for the sole benefit of a single entity.

Don’t you wonder who it might be?

Someone told me there are three possible applicants. I shouldn’t be surprised if this particular effort (follow-up) was the cat’s paw for one interested party.

You can see the emergency rule (see pp. 29-31)here.

Here’s a prediction.  If this “model” comes to fruition, it won’t be the model for anything.

With the new Hampden Academy set to go for $50 million, how much do you suppose such a one-campus model with all the features would cost? Can you say “Taj Mahal”?

This model will prove too expensive — relative to the state’s cash flow — to be replicated anywhere else.

But someone will have gotten shiny new state-of-the-art buildings and a beautiful new campus!