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Election time often gets to be prediction time. You certainly see a lot of predictions. You read “We project that” a certain candidate will win, that a certain question “will undoubtedly be defeated,” and so on. Most such predictions aren’t worth the electrons they’re written in. I try to refrain from such myself. But here’s [...] On my part, the fundamental issue about so-called consolidation has always been about local control. I am not saying that pre-consolidation we had a golden era of enlightened local decisions and involvement. Far from it! For quite some time the State has been glomming on to every aspect of decision-making about education. Nor am I saying that [...] I’ll have more to say on Question 3 soon, but may I call your attention to the letter to Maine Democrats from the Governor that Brian Hubbell reproduces here? Please follow the link and read the Governor’s letter. Read Brian’s site MDIschools.net daily to keep up with this fight. He’s doing yeoman’s work in this struggle. The Baldacci [...] I’ll be tuning in this week to find out the latest from the non-grassroots pro-consolidation folks at coststoomuch.com (A special hat tip to Brian at MDIschools.net for being all over this!) I hope you’ll try to find out as much as you can too. In the spirit of democracy, and especially because we want to do what’s [...] The consolidation process has been borderline fraudulent from start to the present. There are no substantial savings. Many districts were de facto exempt, or put together sham AOS structures. You don’t need the Gordon Donaldson reports to tell you these things (though confirmation of one’s beliefs can be gratifying). Now, there are no penalties. Of course, this [...] Like tomcats growling and screaming, noises are being made about consolidation repeal. Our Governor vows a fight! Gov. John Baldacci, after restating his case in his State of the State address, said he will actively try to defeat the pending referendum proposal. “I’ll be working to defeat that because I think that’s sending us backwards to our [...] Glenn Reynolds pointed to this Cartoon Version of Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. My fave! Susan Cover’s entry Want to see what your legislator is up to? at On Maine Politics(KJ) helpfully points us to this page at the Legislature; at the top there’s a listing of all bills (pdf – 141 pages, Excel – 4890 lines) proposed by the present legislature. At this point, most of them are just [...] School votes disputed (KJ, 1/30) Voters across much of the state visited the polls Tuesday and approved seven school-district consolidation proposals, shooting down 11 others. That’s the tally according to the Maine Department of Education. By the Maine School Management Association’s count, however, voters agreed to four school-district consolidation plans on Tuesday, while 14 plans failed. “Our intention is [...] An explanation of why the numbers vary in today’s BDN: Of the 18 plans up for a vote in Tuesday’s voting, four received outright approval from voters. Fourteen plans were rejected as proposed, but in some cases, the plans allowed for new units to be formed in the event that just some of the partners approved [...] The figures seem to vary a bit, with a late Wednesday afternoon Associated Press article saying 6 plans passed (thus 12 defeated) and a TV report (WLBZ) saying that the DOE says 7 passed. In any case, reorganization did not have a great day yesterday, and we’re a long way from the promised 80 districts. (See [...] This morning’s BDN reports that at least 8 of the plans appear to have lost. The DOE spokesman opines “Some who vote no will want to go back to the drawing board.” The phrase “ya gotta love it” comes to mind! This morning’s sound track comes from those loveable moptops, John, Paul, George, and D Ringo:
As we watch the results coming in on the MDISchools Referenda site, the impression is that the referenda are largely going down to defeat, except where reorganization was strongly supported by the RPC and by elected officials. Referenda have lost in SADs 4 & 46 (astoundingly negative numbers), in Jay/SAD 36, the Boothbay AOS, and Millinocket/EM/Medway. They [...] It’s a commonplace that we should all get out and vote. But the truth is that no hortatory excess here or elsewhere, now or in the future, is likely to “guilt” anyone into voting. Those who want to, will. And those who care to vote get to decide. We note that even the 2008 presidential election had an [...] about school reorganizaion in the letters columns of newspapers and on the comment boards. They’ve been speaking in the RSU votes, and they’ll be speaking again tomorrow, in the voting booth. In a voting booth, of course, it’s yes or no, but in forums where they can write, people are showing intellect, passion, wit, and cussedness. I [...] The Commissioner sent out a letter (”Clarifications: Reorganization Plan Costs and Voter Rejection” ) on Friday. It was addressed to “officials in regions with pending referendum votes on school administrative reorganization plans.” In it she addresses three “concerns”: projected costs of teacher contracts, That’s what they say: “What has been sustainable in the past will certainly not be sustainable in the future,” David Connerty-Marin, the Department of Education’s communications director, told an audience of legislators, lobbyists and others. Well thanks David! It was said Monday at this conference. All rather cosy. As though it were an act of God, [...] One could argue — as Gordon Donaldson does in this piece — that we aren’t really considering the full real cost of consolidation as we decide how to vote on the issue locally. If a single RSU has $1.5 million in hidden costs, one has to wonder what the aggregate (that is, state-wide) hidden costs [...] Camille Paglia is always an interesting read, even when she’s way out there, IMO. In the run-up to the election she was an Obama supporter and strongly supportive of Sarah Palin. Here’s the opening of her latest Salon piece: But then I gulped when Obama also pledged educational reform by putting state-of-the-art computers in every classroom. [...] |
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