Maine Piloting Early Graduation Program (Auburn, Yarmouth: middle school, university, minimum wage)

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Beullah

We are looking at Cape Elizabeth and York County, i.e., York and the Kennebunks.

That $18M of funding can increase if the budget figures are revised. 30% of our students are not native-English speakers, and we have a large special education population.

So as to somewhat redirect these discussions back on topic, I will point out that oftentimes, IMO of course, special education numbers go up when the quality of curriculum goes down. This leads me back to the original discussion of putting kids into high school early, and (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) the piece that relates to why they need remediation in the first place.

I'd still like to know a few key things: 1. What are the prospective numbers of students who are likely to take advantage of this program (and follow it through completely)? 2. How much is it going to cost towns to send kids to the community colleges vs. looking into curriculum that supports what they need remediation on? and 3. Depending on the answer to number two, how will this affect the property taxes of the towns?

It seems to me that with consolidation in its infancy while still working out details, and the massive cutbacks in EPS funding from the state, without these answers, it's a little foolhardy to pilot yet another program.

[Beullah]

Originally Posted by flycessna

Cape elizabeth has some of the best schools in the state along with yarmouth and bangor. York area is nice because of its proximity to Boston and portsmith NH is right there.

What has brought you to Maine? have you been here? Did you consider looking around the suburbs of Boston?

Yes, we have been all through New England. My son was stationed in Groton, CT for nearly a year for his A school, sub school, etc. When we would visit, we did a great deal of sightseeing. Even during the winter!

We enjoyed all of New England: CT, MA, RI, NH, and Maine. I think we chose Maine primarily because we don't need to be near a large metro area because we're retired. And, you can get a little more for your money in Maine vs. the other states. The states are so small (in area) that it's easy to travel to/through the New England states. We mainly chose Maine for the schools, housing prices, and low property tax rates.

As far as I could tell, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth have the highest-rated schools. York, and Kennebunk/Kennebunkport also have decent to good schools. I think that we preferred the southern location of York County, but we're flexible. There are pros and cons to every community.

We had originally considered Yarmouth, but a realtor encouraged us to stay south of Portland because people were more accepting of newcomers. I don't want to insult any community, really. But, we did sort of take that advice and limit our search to York County, except for Cape Elizabeth.

[maine4.us]

Where I currently live Florida,(but will retire in Maine), we are required by court mandate to provide for special needs children. Special needs includes ESL (english limited) children as well as a host of other needs. I am surprised that Maine doesn't live under those same mandates, given the mindset of the southern part of the state. We are in the same shape as Maine in Florida. The stimulus money kept massive layoffs from happening, but that money is gone. We already have a letter from our superintendent telling us it looks BAD for next year. I suspect the schools in rural Maine are suffering a double whammy. Loss of federal and state money at the same time. One school, lost 95% of the state funding for next year. How any school can initiate a new program is beyond me; most are cutting the programs in existence. There is a class at a school here that has one teacher/ed tech for each two students. There is no way to locally fund such nonsense. Note to Mainers, the unemployment rate in Florida currently stands at 12+%. That is the real rate that includes the people who have just given up looking for work, or have been unemployed for a year.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by maine4.us

Where I currently live Florida,(but will retire in Maine), we are required by court mandate to provide for special needs children. Special needs includes ESL (english limited) children as well as a host of other needs. I am surprised that Maine doesn't live under those same mandates, given the mindset of the southern part of the state. We are in the same shape as Maine in Florida. The stimulus money kept massive layoffs from happening, but that money is gone. We already have a letter from our superintendent telling us it looks BAD for next year. I suspect the schools in rural Maine are suffering a double whammy. Loss of federal and state money at the same time. One school, lost 95% of the state funding for next year. How any school can initiate a new program is beyond me; most are cutting the programs in existence. There is a class at a school here that has one teacher/ed tech for each two students. There is no way to locally fund such nonsense. Note to Mainers, the unemployment rate in Florida currently stands at 12+%. That is the real rate that includes the people who have just given up looking for work, or have been unemployed for a year.

We do. I think you'll find that many are federal mandates.

[Zarathu]

Property Taxes in Bar Harbor are scheduled to go up by 6% next year. For me that means about $150 more per year. Since I save for this, it means $12.50 a month, less than what it costs to eat at McDonalds for two.



This is mostly to fund the schools. Last year they completely changed the mil evaluations and my taxes doubled. it went from about $91 a month to $180 a month. So now it will be saving of about $192 a month(plus about the same in savings per month for local school and other taxes here in PA). A dollar her a dollar there pretty soon you are into real money. Since my name is neither Stewart nor Rockefeller, any increase that hits me on my fixed income can hurt. And no, I'm not on a retirement income yet, but realistically I haven't had a raise in salary for about 5 years.

Two years ago, I must have hit a higher tax bracket or the health insurance premium went up, since after my "pay increase" my salary actually went down.

Nothing like the 80's of double digit inflation when my salary went up 5-6K a year.

It is what it is.

Z

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Zarathu

It is what it is.

Z

And its name is "School Consolidation." Obviously, there are other many other reasons, but consolidation is right up there with the attempt to save money.

Did it save money? Yes, as far as the state books are concerned IMO.

[mainegrl2011]

When you have a small town school (for example, fewer than 100 students K-8) that requires a million dollars a year to operate and the RSU needs to cut the overall budget by a million dollars, I think we'll see the closing of some smaller schools (students transported to a larger school within the RSU). To me this is "real" consolidation......and it doesn't mean all the employees from the smaller school will have a job at the larger school. The teachers at the larger school will have more students in their classrooms.

[Beullah]

Originally Posted by reloop

We do. I think you'll find that many are federal mandates.

UNFUNDED Federal mandates, and there are many.

[Beullah]

Originally Posted by mainegrl2011

When you have a small town school (for example, fewer than 100 students K-8) that requires a million dollars a year to operate and the RSU needs to cut the overall budget by a million dollars, I think we'll see the closing of some smaller schools (students transported to a larger school within the RSU). To me this is "real" consolidation......and it doesn't mean all the employees from the smaller school will have a job at the larger school. The teachers at the larger school will have more students in their classrooms.

Isn't the intent, also, to eliminate town tuitioning? I have looked at RSU21, and the intent is to allow Arundel's town tuitioning contract to run out, then probably close Mildred L. Day school and integrate those students into the two public elementaries in RSU21.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by mainegrl2011

When you have a small town school (for example, fewer than 100 students K-8) that requires a million dollars a year to operate and the RSU needs to cut the overall budget by a million dollars, I think we'll see the closing of some smaller schools (students transported to a larger school within the RSU). To me this is "real" consolidation......and it doesn't mean all the employees from the smaller school will have a job at the larger school. The teachers at the larger school will have more students in their classrooms.

In all this talk about education I was searching around the internet and found a great story/article about a guy from china that had went to school in china but in his teens came to america with his parents..

There was a lot of information covered in it like how they have this huge exam that pretty much dictates from who gets to go to college to what they will major in.

Well he mentioned class sizes of 50 plus students where the expectations for grades are 95%.. any less would be an insult to yourself and your family.. He appreciated these extremes as it places the importance of education was your own responability and then on the flip side he liked how here in america he could feel around in take classes in what interested him.

We can complain about "unfunded madates" and classroom sizes but the problems with education go much deeper. Our family values and how much that has changed, expectations with students and teachers alike.. How would china handle a teacher who is failing??

I am not touting china as a model society but It is certainly relevent in that china is and will continue to be our biggest competitor in every way.