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Due to the economic crisis, schools across the state of Maine have been forced to propose large budget cuts and to look at school consolidation options. While maintaining great education, the Maine Department of Education is trying to cut costs as much as possible. Several districts, according to the Maine Department of Education, have said to save $2 million dollars in one year since the beginning of this attempt at cutting costs. A lot of this saved money, however, is coming from letting many great teachers and strong programs go. Many parents are furious over the loss of their child's favorite sport or teacher. Although the state of Maine says they're doing their best to try and keep great education for their kids, many would argue they're cutting too many important programs.
In the small town of Kittery, Maine, talk of school consolidation has been a hot
topic for the last few years. With the closing of the elementary school, due to the safety issues with the old building, the town looks to expand or move the children to other buildings available. Some suggest combining Kittery schools with neighboring towns to save money, but many are fighting to keep their small town school their own. Those pro consolidation argue that combining schools will allow for more opportunities for the kids, as well as greater diversity. They also believe that combining schools will allow for more specialized classes, allowing students to excel in more areas. Those against the idea of school consolidation want to keep the class sizes small, and believe that their students will not get the proper attention and help they need in a bigger school. With forcing Kittery students to another school, they will also have to spend more in transportation fees. Many feel that with pushing the students together, there may be a sense of local control with the current students at the school, and this brings a lot of uncertainty to the success of students.
With many pros and cons taken into consideration in this big debate, it has been
difficult to come to a clear decision. Many doubt the ability to make such a drastic change while really saving that much money, since consolidation isn’t a cost free move. As many fear this move may be jumped into too quickly, this will be revised many times to ensure as few flaws as possible. Whatever the outcome will be of this town’s school consolidation debate, we can be certain that it will not be decided upon without countless hours of review.