Search Result for: Maine


maine Consolidation Fight Twists Again

...This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters.   maine’s forced school district consolidation process continues down its rocky road. First passed in 2007, the law required most districts to enroll at least 2,500 students. It was amended in 2008 to make it more palatable. This year, the legislature will fuss over 30 more bills introduced to amend or gut the measure. In addition, the Secretary of State has certified the signatures on a citizen petition to repeal the ...
Date: 2009-03-14

maine Consolidation Repeal Effort Goes Down to Defeat

...have $300,000 to tell our side of the story on radio and TV,” said Skip Greenlaw, chairman of maine Coalition to Save Schools (MCSS), in a news release following a November vote to leave in place a state law that forces smaller school districts to consolidate.   “It is obvious and disturbing that money is still the mother’s milk of politics,” continued Greenlaw. “The problem was that there are so many more taxpayers who live in communities which did not exper...
Date: 2009-11-29

maine Funding Formula Under Scrutiny

...current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Communities in rural maine that have experienced dramatic changes in property valuation are seeking help in dealing with shrinking state support. They want the state’s funding formula changed to better address their needs. Representatives and school leaders from places such as coastal Jonesport and other small towns along the Atlantic say that the Essential Programs and Services (EPS) formula does not recogn...
Date: 2011-05-29

maine Student Receives $250,000 Leonore Annenberg Scholarship Award

...Kassandra Hopkins of Vinalhaven, maine, is the recipient of a $250,000 Leonore Annenberg Scholarship to attend any undergraduate college or university in the country. As the first student from maine to receive the prestigious award, all that’s left for Hopkins to take the next step toward her dreams is deciding where to spend it and what to study when she gets there.   Read more about Kassandra in this article from the Bangor Daily News.   The Leonore Annenberg Scholarship Fu...
Date: 2011-07-28

maine's Struggle with Consolidation Law Continues

...This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. The maine Coalition to Save Schools filed a citizen initiated petition to repeal the state's school consolidation law in October. According to a press release, the group collected 61,142 certified signatures, over 6,000 more than the law requires to put a repeal measure to a statewide vote. The group hopes, however, that the state legislature will not wait for the ballot referendum and will use the petition as incentive to repeal ...
Date: 2008-11-06

Same Old Consolidation Claims at Issue in maine Vote

...This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters.   Voters in maine will decide next month whether to repeal the state law that forces many school districts to consolidate.   At stake are common issues that plague consolidation mandates in other parts of the country, including whether or not consolidation actually saves money, who loses governance of their schools, and, of course, how the facts get spun.   "maine needs to reject this law because it does no...
Date: 2009-10-30

School Discipline Update: maine Bill Would Prevent Expulsion Without Reentry Plan

...ddress the strong correlation between expulsion and students dropping out of school altogether, the maine legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit schools from expelling  students without creating a plan for suspended students to return to school.  L.D. 1503, An Act to Promote School Attendance and Increase School Achievement, has the bi-partisan support of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee of the State Legislature, the maine Principals Association, the maine...
Date: 2012-01-27

2008 Rural School and Community Trust / Fund For Teachers Grant Recipients

... which will be ready for submission to any lender if the student chooses. View Curriculum   maine Beth Edwards, Dirigo High School, Dixfield, maine Southern Perspective of the American Civil War: Historic Sites in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania Through this fellowship Beth explored Civil War history in multiple locations in Virginia and in Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania -- visiting historical locations and battlefields that southerners lived and died on for their cause. Beth brou...
Date: 2009-04-03

2008 State Election Update: A Sampler

...rom other purposes. There was no change in party representation in either the House or the Senate. maine. Democrats increased their one-vote majority in the Senate to a 20-15 spread (with some recounting still underway at this writing) and slightly increased their 3-2 ratio in the House. So Democratic Governor John Baldacci has a stronger hand in the battle to save his forced school district consolidation law which the legislature must consider repealing in response to a successful citizen peti...
Date: 2008-11-06

2009 Rural School and Community Trust / Fund For Teachers Grant Recipients

... Recipients 2008 Grant Recipients maine   Mt. Abram High School Merit and Sally Bean who teach high school math and art will travel to Greece and Turkey to explore the art and history of the area and to learn how the culture and geography of ancient Greece have influenced the development of Western Civilization. Over three weeks, the Beans plan to visit several sites in Athens, the Greek islands and Turkey where they hope ...
Date: 2009-11-05

2010 Rural School and Community Trust / Fund For Teachers Grant Recipients

...ces  Planning Guide and Curriculum: Mexico's History, Language, and Culture     maine   Searsport High School, Searsport Science teacher Dawn Staples-Knox traveled to Hot Springs, South Dakota to learn from scientists how to excavate, record, and preserve Mammoth bones and develop lessons for students. Resources  Curriculum: 9th Grade Earth and Environmental Unit: Earth's History     Skowhegan Area High School, Skowhegan English/Journalism teac...
Date: 2010-10-26

Alternative Ways to Achieve Cost Effective Schools

...d to have decentralized governance structures. For example, only nine states (Connecticut, Indiana, maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Vermont, Nebraska) scored above the national average in both 8th grade mathematics and 8th grade science on the most recent test. All of these states have highly decentralized governance structures with many small local schools, many locally elected school boards, and many local superintendents. Eliminating districts almost always results in...
Date: 2003-06-01

Annenberg Public Policy Center News

...e Capacity Building Program at (252) 433-8844 or tampathia.evans@ruraledu.org for further details. maine Student Receives $250,000 Leonore Annenberg Scholarship Award Kassandra Hopkins of Vinalhaven, maine, is the recipient of a $250,000 Leonore Annenberg Scholarship to attend any undergraduate college or university in the country. more 2009 Annenberg Scholar to Attend Boston College Lydia Ducharme, the 2009 Rural School and Community Trust recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Scholarship and ...
Date: 2011-07-28

Anything But Research-based: State Initiatives to Consolidate Schools and Districts

...e Consolidation Proposals and Initiatives, Winter 2006: Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, maine, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia Breaking the Mold: Policies that Support Rural Education Rural Trust's Rural School District Reorganization Standards Introduction Policymakers are giving unprecedented lip service to the importance of data-based decision-making and research-based education reforms. But many are not heeding their own admoniti...
Date: 2006-03-06

Consolidation and Charter Policies Make Conflicting Claims

...sideration in Mississippi, would require all districts to merge into county-wide units by 2013. In maine, on the other hand, pending legislation would roll back parts of the state’s 2007 law that attempted to force the merger of the state’s smaller districts and create funding penalties for districts that resisted. Legislation introduced earlier this month would make it easier for towns to withdraw from their consolidated districts. Enter charters Now there’s a new player in...
Date: 2012-02-23