Work by Matthew Stone

Jan. 18, 2009

Maine's rural schools risk losing access to some federal grants once they consolidate into larger, regional school systems to comply with state law.

Since 2002, rural schools in Maine have received more than $24 million in grants under the Rural Education Achievement Program.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who co-authored the original legislation that secured the funding, is asking President-elect Barack Obama's administration to budget at least $200 million for the program in the coming fiscal year.

Approximately 100 schools in Maine this academic year received $3.6 million from the grant program, according to Collins' office and the Maine Department of Education. The federal government budgeted $172 million for the program this fiscal year.

Half of the rural grant funds are aimed at school districts with 600 or fewer students that are considered rural under federal guidelines. But Maine's school-district consolidation mandate — an effort to reduce school administrative expenses by reducing the number of districts — requires that merged districts enroll at least 1,200 students.

"I am concerned that an unintended consequence of consolidation will be that many Maine schools will no longer qualify for these grants," Collins said last week.

It's not a sure thing that rural Maine school districts growing in size will lose access to federal grants intended for them, said Dennis Kunces, rural education grant director at the Maine Department of Education.

School districts merging with others to become regional school units, Kunces said, would be disqualified from grants geared to districts with fewer than 600 students. They could qualify for other Rural Education Achievement Program grants, however, if poverty rates meet a particular threshold, he said.

"If you've got more than 600 kids, then you may not qualify for that grant," Kunces said. "But you might qualify for the rural low-income grant."

In addition, Kunces said, school districts merging to become part of an alternatively shaped district, an "Alternative Organizational Structure," will remain eligible for the federal grants.

The Alternative Organizational Structure allows districts to have more decentralized administration and to maintain municipal school boards.

"For the regular rural grant itself, they would be considered individual units if they're an AOS," Kunces said.

As school officials have worked out plans to comply with the state's consolidation law, they have been uncertain of the fate of their federal, rural education grants.

"Those are unanswered questions," School Union 132 Superintendent Frank Boynton said. "We've been asking those questions for a couple months."

Voters in Boynton's district, which serves Chelsea, Jefferson and Whitefield, approved plans in November to merge into a 2,300-student school district. The new district will start operating July 1.

Chelsea, Jefferson and Whitefield qualify for the program because the state views each town as a separate district under the school union's administrative structure. The towns received nearly $85,000 in the federal grants during the 2007-08 school year, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

The Maranacook-area school district's elementary schools west of Augusta have also qualified for the federal grants. During the 2007-08 school year, the Manchester, Mount Vernon, Readfield and Wayne elementary schools received $41,000 in the federal money.

"If we consolidate the way the state wants us to, nobody would qualify," Maranacook Finance Director Brigette Williams said. "You'd all have a district of at least 1,200."

Williams said she has been unable to find out whether the Maranacook elementary schools would qualify for the rural education federal funds after consolidating. Voters in the four Maranacook towns will vote Jan. 27 on a plan to merge with Fayette and Winthrop schools.

While consolidation will likely put some federal money in jeopardy, Maine Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin said, the impact will be limited. The state this year doled out $956 million in education funding, compared to the $3.6 million rural schools received through the federal grant program.

"In most places, the impact will be pretty small," he said. "Compared to the savings that units are projecting (from consolidating), they still end up ahead."

Matthew Stone — 623-3811, ext. 435
mstone@centralmaine.com