AUBURN – If Lewiston and Auburn school departments merged, there would be more slots for Auburn students to attend a bigger Lewiston Regional Technical Center, the Lewiston-Auburn Charter Commission was told Wednesday night.
More L-A students would get better access to programs that could meet individual needs, from AP courses to alternative programs to special education, school officials said.
Edward Little and Lewiston high schools would retain their buildings and identities but would be in one district. But some residents who identify themselves as “Red Eddies” or “Blue Devils” would object, and some may expect savings to cut property taxes, commission members were told.
The commission is studying merging the cities.
Lewiston Superintendent Bill Webster and Auburn Superintendent Katy Grondin shared the pros and cons of creating one school system for Lewiston-Auburn, which would create a district of about 9,000 students with one superintendent and one school committee.
Listing the positives, Webster said there would be some cost savings, which should be spent to improve education. For the same amount of money now spent, students could get better choices and more programs, especially in technical and career education.
“Lewiston High School is bursting at the seams. We’ve a technical center in a building designed 30 years ago,” Webster said. If Auburn built a new Edward Little High School, it could be a comprehensive high school with a state-of-the-art technical center, “along the lines of what Sanford is building. Very exciting.”
Of the Lewiston Regional Technical Center’s 25 programs, 15 programs might be relocated to a new Edward Little school, Webster said. That would give far more access to Auburn students.
Now, for every 20 LRTC slots, Lewiston gets 10 as the host; the remaining 10 slots are divided among five sending schools, Grondin said.
Under existing state law, expanding the technical center to Auburn can’t be done without merging, Webster said. “If Lewiston stays separate, my School Committee is not giving up 15 LRTC programs. EL going it alone is not going to be a comprehensive high school, because there’s already a technical center across the river.”
Other positives of merging could be creating an improved alternative high school for both cities in what is now Lewiston’s school administrative headquarters, the Dingley Building, which had extensive physical improvements several years ago.
Merging could allow students to take courses at either Lewiston or the Auburn campus. “Students could go back and forth between the two schools, take two classes this side of the river, hop on a bus that has WiFi, go to the other side of the river for the next class, like USM’s Portland and Gorham campuses.”
Negatives of consolidation include the ongoing problems of crowded schools, high rates of poverty, neighborhoods that create schools of the haves and have-nots.
“On the surface you wouldn’t consolidate, there isn’t room to consolidate,” Grondin said. “We both have challenges of not enough space.”
There’s the potential for an increased disconnect between residents and schools, Webster said. As the school district gets bigger, “even though you’re doing great things for kids,” some residents feel the district no longer represents them.
And a merged district would have to guard against sameness, that the same solution will work for everybody. Now there are two “laboratories” happening: Auburn is four years into implementing individualized learning, while Lewiston is implementing national teacher certification and the state-mandated proficiency-based diploma.
The goals of the cities’ programs are more meaningful, improved education, but the districts have different paths of getting there, School Committee members said.
The Lewiston-Auburn Charter Commission was created last summer to explore combining Lewiston and Auburn into one city. As planned, Lewiston-Auburn voters will be asked in November 2016 to decide if they want to merge the two cities.
“We think it’s a good idea,” Charter Commission Chairman Gene Geiger said. “We have not made our case to the public.” His committee is now investigating.
Key to combining the school systems is finding out how much the state subsidy for a combined Lewiston-Auburn School Department would be, and the impact on property tax payers.
On Friday, Geiger discussed that with former Maine Education Commissioner Jim Rier, considered the expert on Maine’s education funding formula. Rier estimated if the two districts combined, there would not be much difference with state subsidies and how much taxpayers pay, Geiger said.
Geiger intends to ask the Maine Department of Education to run the numbers and get estimates.
The Charter Commission is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. March 11 in Lewiston City Hall.
Their webpage: http://newlacharter.ning.com/meeting-schedule
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