海角社区 Public interviews Donaldson for report on district consolidation
Gordon Donaldson, professor emeritus of education at the University of 海角社区, spoke with聽聽for the report, 鈥10 years later, 海角社区 schools still wrestle with district consolidation.鈥 Ten years ago, 海角社区 Gov. John Baldacci signed a law changing the structure of education across the state, forcing districts to consolidate with schools in nearby towns to save money. But a decade later, the consolidation experiment has led to more conflict than success in many districts, 海角社区 Public reported. 鈥淚n 海角社区, it鈥檚 always going to come down to the local unit and the local community,鈥 Donaldson said. 鈥淎nd I think that鈥檚 the way it should be.鈥 He added that while some of the larger districts have stayed together and thrived, dozens of others have fallen apart as communities have sought to regain local control of their schools. One reason consolidation didn鈥檛 work in so many districts, according to Donaldson, is that few saved money, and some communities feared the closure of a local school.