An Act To Support Regionalization of Public Schools and Achieve Efficiency and Improve Quality
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 0910
Committee Amendment CA_B_H589 (House)

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ·13" to H.P. 685, L.D. 910, Bill, "An Act To 
Support Regionalization of Public Schools and Achieve Efficiency and Improve Quality" 
Amend the bil1 by striking out the title and substituting the following: 
'An Act To Permit Public Schools in the Lower Kennebec River Area To 
Regionalize To Achieve Efficiency and Improve Quality' 
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the 
summary and inserting the following: 
'Sec. 1. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act, unless the context otherwise 
indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. 
1. Certificate of organization. "Certificate of organization" has the same meaning 
as in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 1203. 
2. 
District. 
"District" means the state-approved unit of school administration 
organized by this Act. 
3. Eligible municipalities. "Eligible municipalities" means the City of Bath and the 
towns of Arrowsic, Georgetown, Phippsburg, West Bath and Woolwich. 
4. General laws. "General laws" means the general laws of the State. 
S. Interim period. "Interim period" means the period from the date of issuance by 
the State Board of Education of a certificate of organization for the district through and 
including June 30, 2008. 
6. 
Participating members. 
"Participating members" means the eligible 
municipalities that have voted to accept this Act pursuant to section 21 or who 
subsequently join the district. 
7. Regional school unit. "Regional school unit" has the same meaning as in the 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 1, subsection 24-B. 
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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ':/J to H.P. 685, L.D. '1. 
Sec. 2. 
Organization. 
Subject to the prOVISions of this Act, the school 
administrative units of the participating members are merged into and organized as a 
regional school unit to become operative on July 1, 2008, which shall provide public 
education to all public school students of the participating members under and pursuant to 
the terms of this Act. 
Sec. 3. Purposes. The district replaces the units of school administration of the 
participating members in order to improve the efficiency and quality of public education 
and for all other purposes described in this Act and in the general laws. The district 
serves as the state-approved unit of school administration to provide public education to 
all public school students in the district and is a regional school unit created under the 
provisions of this Act for purposes of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 
103-A and all other general laws. 
Sec. 4. Name; certificate of organization. Upon receipt of the voting results 
from the eligible municipalities on the question whether to accept this Act, the State 
Board of Education shall determine if the Act has been accepted by the minimum 
threshold of participating members under section 21 to be effective and, if so, shall issue 
an interim certificate of organization in accordance with the general laws to the secretary 
of the school committee of each participating municipality. 
The board of directors 
elected in the interim period shall approve an official name for the district and shall file 
that name with the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall then 
issue an amended certificate of organization for the district that must include the official 
name. 
Sec. 5. Applicability of general law. The district and its board of directors are 
subject to and have the powers, duties, benefits and authority conferred by this Act and, 
to the extent not inconsistent with this Act, the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, 
chapter 103-A and other general laws relating to public education and applicable to 
regional school units. 
Sec. 6. 
Effect of statewide consolidation. Nothing contained in this Act 
prevents the district from being organized as a regional school unit on the same terms 
and conditions as the Legislature provides for regional school units throughout the State 
by Public Law 2007, chapter 240, Part XXXX to the extent not inconsistent with this Act. 
Sec. 7. Applicability of local charters. In the event of any inconsistency 
between this Act, or the general laws incorporated by reference in this Act, and a 
participating member's charter or ordinance, this Act or, as applicable, the general laws 
control, and the inconsistent charter or ordinance provision must be deemed to be 
amended or repealed to the extent of the inconsistency. Without limitation of this section, 
the amounts raised, collected and paid by the City of Bath for district assessments may 
not be considered expenditures of the city subject to the limitations on municipal 
expenditures of section 617 of the city's charter; and section 606, "School Budget 
Component," and other provisions of the city charter applicable to the "School Budget 
Component" do not apply to district assessments. The participating members shall raise, 
collect and pay district assessments in accordance with this Act. 
Sec. 8. Apportionment of board of directors; voting precincts. The initial 
method of representation is the subdistrict method of representation as described in the 
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to H.P. 685, L.D. 910 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 1252, except that the boundaries must be 
determined as provided in this section, and the boundaries of each subdistrict must be 
drawn to include residents of more than one participating member and to divide residents 
of each participating member between at least 2 subdistricts. Each subdistrict must be 
represented by one member of the board of directors, who must reside in the subdistrict. 
The term of each board member is 3 years, except as provided in this Act, for the 
purposes of staggering the terms of the initial board members by draw of lots. No later 
than 7 days following the effective date of this Act, the superintendents of the eligible 
municipalities in consultation with the school committees of the eligible municipalities 
shall submit to the Commissioner of Education a written boundary plan containing 9 
proposed subdistricts. 
The commissioner shall approve that boundary plan upon 
determining that the proposed subdistricts are of approximately equal size as determined 
by the latest Federal Decennial Census or Federal Estimated Census and that the 
proposed district is apportioned in accordance with the principles of one person, one vote. 
If the commissioner determines that the submittal does not satisfy these requirements, the 
commissioner shall make recommendations for a revised boundary plan to be submitted 
in accordance with this Act. If the commissioner does not issue a determination within 
days of a submittal, the commissioner is deemed to have approved that submittal. If 
one or more of the eligible municipalities does not accept this Act pursuant to section 21, 
the superintendents of the participating municipalities, in consultation with the school 
committees of the participating municipalities, shall promptly submit to the commissioner 
a revised boundary plan containing 7 subdistricts instead of 9. The commissioner shall 
act upon the revised boundary plan in the same manner as the plan originally submitted. 
Because the subdistricts include more than one municipality, the elections of board 
members are governed to the extent applicable by the procedures of Title 20-A, section 
1253 for the election of board members under Method A, subdistrict representation, 
except as provided in this Act for election of the initial board of directors. The election 
secretary, as selected under section 9, shall determine the date on which a subdistrict 
election must be called by the respective municipal officers and shall notifY the municipal 
clerks of the subdistrict election date. The voting list maintained by the municipal clerk 
of each participating municipality must identifY the subdistrict of each registered voter of 
the participating municipality. The registered voters of a subdistrict shall vote in the 
municipalities of their respective registrations. 
Nothing in this section prevents the 
district from changing its method of representation in accordance with the general laws, 
in which case the method of election of board members is the appJicable method under 
the general laws, or from changing the boundaries of its subdistricts and the number of its 
subdistricts and board members for purposes of reapportionment or reorganization as 
permitted under the general laws. In the event a municipality joins or is added to the 
district, that municipality becomes a participating member subject to this Act. 
Sec. 9. Initial board of directors; transition. The election of the initial board 
of directors must occur as provided under section 8, except as provided in this section. 
The election date for the initial board of directors must be determined by vote of a joint 
meeting of the school committees of the participating members after the State Board of 
Education has issued the certificate of organization. For purposes of establishing the 
election date, the school committees at the joint meeting shall establish deadlines for 
furnishing and filing nomination papers, so that the election may occur on or before 
February 1, 2008. The school committees at the joint meeting shall select an election 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
," 
" 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT:iJ" to H.P. 685, L.D. 910 
secretary, who must be a superintendent of one or more of the participating members. 
The election secretary shall perfonn the duties of the secretary under section 8. The 
school committees of the participating members shall in joint meeting total the votes cast 
for each candidate within each subdistrict and shall immediately notify the clerks in each 
municipality, the candidates and the Commissioner of Education of the results of the 
vote, and of the date of the first meeting of the initial board of directors. The oath of 
office of each initial board member must be filed with the election secretary for 
safekeeping and delivery to the secretary of the district. The tenns of office must be 
staggered by draw of lots as provided by the Maine Revised Statues, Title 20-A, chapter 
103-A. During the interim period, the board of directors shall elect officers, hire a 
superintendent and prepare a budget for submission to the voters of the district for the 
2008-09 fiscal year. The initial board of directors shall make such other arrangements as 
it considers necessary to prepare for the district to be operational July 1,2008. The tenns 
of the school committee members who are in office on the effective date of this Act end 
June 30, 2008. During the interim period, the school committees of the participating 
members shall cooperate with the initial board of directors for purposes of the transition. 
During the interim period, the initial board of directors also is authorized to file 
applications for school construction projects and, during the period before the initial 
board of directors is elected, those applications may be filed jointly by the participating 
members. 
Sec. 10. Supermajority to close district schools. For a period of 5 years from 
the operative date of the district, a 2/3 vote of the board of directors is required to 
authorize an elementary school within the district to be closed, unless the school building 
has been condemned or replaced by a school construction project approved by the district 
voters. The closure of a school building also is subject to any other requirements of the 
general laws. 
Sec. 11. Cost sharing; changes in cost sharing. For the purpose of local cost 
sharing, the provisions of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 15688, 
subsection 3-A do not apply to the participating members. The local costs of the district 
must be allocated to the participating members as follows: 
1. Valuation. One-third must be allocated based on the property fiscal capacity of 
each participating member; 
2. Pupil count. One-third must be allocated based on the most recent calendar year 
average pupil count of each participating member; and 
3. 
Population. 
One-third must be allocated based on the population of each 
participating member as determined by the latest Federal Decennial Census or Federal 
Estimated Census. 
In fiscal year 2008-09, the share of local costs that the district allocates to a 
participating member must be reduced by the amount of funds the participating member 
has transferred to the district pursuant to this Act to the extent the funds are not allocated 
to expenditures of the participating member. 
After 3 budget years, the district shall report to the joint standing committee of the 
Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters on its experience with determining 
the contributions of the participating members for local costs under this Act and on other 
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· . 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT:./;" to H.P. 685, L.D. 910 
methods of determining the contributions that might be preferable within the district. The 
other methods, if any, may inc1ude the results of a nonbinding election or as applicable 
town meeting votes in each participating municipality. The method of sharing the local 
costs of the district may be changed after the first 3 budget years of the district in the 
manner provided by the general laws, or, if the general laws at any time do not permit a 
change in cost sharing, by district referendum called by the board of directors. 
Sec. 12. Maintenance of state debt service subsidy. The organization of the 
district does not affect any state subsidy of existing debt or the relative portion of any 
existing debt of a participating member paid or reimbursed by the State, including lease 
and lease-purchase obligations, or the relative portion forgiven by the State of any school 
revolving renovation fund loan to a participating member. 
Sec. 13. Transfer of assets and liabilities. The transfer of assets and liabilities, 
including the assets and liabilities related to the Bath Regional Vocational Center, are 
governed by this section. 
1. Transfer of assets. Upon issuance of a certificate of organization, the transfer of 
school property and assets from the participating members to the district must occur in 
accordance with the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 103-A. With respect to 
any restrictions on ownership and operation of school facilities and equipment financed 
with tax-exempt bonds, the district is deemed the successor to the issuer of the bonds for 
purposes of school administration. 
2. District responsibility for liabilities incurred prior to effective date. For all 
debt issued prior to the effective date of this Act by a participating member for school 
construction, school renovation and school equipment, not funded directly to the 
participating member through state debt service subsidy, the district shall make timely 
payments to the participating member in amounts sufficient to meet the participating 
member's scheduled debt service payments. The district shall make these payments even 
if the district has not elected to receive a transfer of the school property funded by that 
debt. The district shall assume and otherwise agree to pay other contractual liabilities 
incurred for school purposes by a participating member prior to the effective date of this 
Act, inc1uding lease and lease-purchase agreements, transportation contracts and 
construction, architectural and other school service contracts, if any. Nothing in this Act 
requires a participating member or the district to renew, extend or continue any contract 
other than in accordance with its terms. 
3. Completion of ongoing Bath renovation project financing. If the City of Bath 
issues bonds or notes in an amount not to exceed $2,900,000 for school renovations and 
improvements, the district shall also make timely payments to the city in amounts 
sufficient to meet the city's scheduled debt service payments on those obligations. If the 
city has authorized the school renovation bonds but has not yet issued all of the 
authorized permanent bonds as of July 1, 2008, the city and the board of directors of the 
district shall consult with recognized bond counsel to determine whether the city or the 
district shall issue the permanent bonds or notes necessary to finance the completion of 
that project and to refund temporary notes that the city has issued in anticipation of 
permanent bonds for that project. In the event that bond counsel advises that the district 
should issue the permanent bonds, no action by the voters of the district is required. The 
bonds at any time outstanding for the renovation project may not exceed the amount 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT:f>" to H.P. 685, L.D. 910 
· "". 
authorized by the city except to the extent necessary to refund temporary notes on a 
current basis. If the district issues bonds to complete the school renovation projects 
begun by the city and to refund the city's temporary notes issued for that purpose, those 
bonds must be issued in the name of the district and otherwise must be in the form and 
must be subject to the procedural requirements provided by the Maine Revised Statutes, 
Title 20-A, chapter 103-A, except as provided by this subsection. In the event that bond 
counsel advises that the city should issue the permanent bonds, the district shall make 
timely payments to the city in amounts sufficient to meet the city's scheduled debt service 
payments. 
4. Transfer of other liabilities incurred during interim period. The district may 
assume any other contractual liabilities of the participating members if approved by the 
district's board of directors during or following the interim period. An approval may not 
be withheld if the participating member issued the bond or entered into the contract in the 
normal course of its management of the schools for an essential school purpose or to 
replace its existing facilities and existing equipment or to keep them in a condition 
comparable to that on the effective date of this Act. 
5. Exception for certain liabilities. Notwithstanding this section, the district is not 
required to assume or pay any contract or liability of a participating member if prior to 
July 1, 2008 the participating member has defaulted in or failed to satisfy a payment 
obligation or has recklessly or intentionally taken any action or failed to take any action 
constituting a material breach of its obligations under the contract or has notice of any 
material breach and has failed to take all reasonable steps to cure the breach. 
Sec. 14. 
Transfer of teachers and employees. 
Except as provided in 
subsection 1, all teachers and school ~mployees who are employed by a participating 
member on June 30, 2008 must be transferred to and employed by the district as of July 
1, 2008. Except as provided in subsection 2, the district shall assume all of the legal 
obligations and duties that the participating members owed to their employees, including 
but not limited to those obligations and duties arising under federal law, state law, 
collective bargaining agreements and individual employment contracts. It is the intent of 
this Act to neither decrease nor increase the rights and benefits of transferred employees 
or the employer. 
1. Teachers or other employees not transferred. Teachers or other employees 
whose employment terminates by application of law or contract or by action of a 
participating member before July 1,2008 may not be transferred. 
2. 
Teachers and other employees transferred prior to completion of 
probationary period. Teachers and other employees who are transferred to the district 
prior to the completion of the applicable probationary period for their positions must have 
the length of their probationary period calculated from the date of their most recent date 
of employment by the participating member. 
3. Membership in Maine State Retirement System participating local district 
plan. Membership in the Maine State Retirement participating local district plan for 
employees who are not teachers as defined in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 
17001, subsection 42 is limited to those who were members of the Maine State 
Retirement System on the effective date of this Act. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT :/;" to H.P. 685, L.D. 910 
Sec. 15. Collective bargaining. The provisions of this section apply to collective 
bargaining. 
1. District board of directors to assume duties. On July 1,2008, the district board 
of directors shall assume all of the obligations, duties, liabilities and rights of the 
participating members for all purposes under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 26, 
chapter 9-A. 
2. Bargaining units. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, bargaining units 
that existed in the participating members are merged July 1, 2008 as follows: 
A. One bargaining unit composed of all certified teachers and other certified 
professional employees, excluding principals and other administrators employed by 
the district; 
B. One bargaining unit composed of all secretaries and educational technicians 
employed by the district; and 
C. One bargaining unit composed of all custodians and food service workers 
employed by the district. 
3. Bargaining agents. Acknowledging the majority representative status of certain 
bargaining agents as of the effective date of this Act, the bargaining agents of the merged 
units that are established pursuant to subsection 2 are, on and after July 1, 2008: 
A. 
For the bargaining unit of teachers and other certified professionals, a local 
affiliate of and chartered by the Maine Education Association selected by the existing 
bargaining agents and the Maine Education Association by July 1, 2008; 
B. For the bargaining unit of secretaries and educational technicians, a local affiliate 
of and chartered by the Maine Education Association selected by the existing 
bargaining agents and the Maine Education Association by July 1,2008; and 
C. For the bargaining unit of custodians and food service workers, the American 
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or a local affiliate of and 
chartered by it and selected by the existing bargaining agents and the American 
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees by July 1,2008. 
4. Collective bargaining. If a bargaining agent identified in subsection 3 and the 
district mutually agree, negotiations for collective bargaining agreements between the 
agent and the district for the merged unit may commence July 1, 2008. Until new 
collective bargaining agreements are executed, prior collective bargaining agreements 
must be honored as provided in paragraph B. When the prior collective bargaining 
agreement has expired, the parties shall maintain the status quo with respect to mandatory 
subjects of bargaining in accordance with the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 26, chapter 
9-A. 
A. 
A collective bargaining agreement between the participating members and 
existing bargaining agents executed between the effective date of this Act and June 
30,2008 may not extend beyond August 31, 2010. 
B. If a bargaining agent identified in subsection 3 and the district do not mutually 
agree to commence negotiations as provided in this subsection, any unexpired 
collective bargaining agreement must be honored to its expiration date unless 
mutually agreed to otherwise by the public employer and the bargaining agent. A 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ".P>, to H.P. 685, L.D. 910 
collective bargaining agreement must be bargained on an interim basis for a segment 
of a merged bargaining unit to the extent required so that all collective bargaining 
agreements expire on the same date. 
Sec. 16. School advisory groups. The board of directors may establish an 
advisory group for each school of the district and may select parents and other residents 
to serve in each school advisory group. 
Sec. 17. School choice. The board of directors shall establish and from time to 
time amend a school choice plan to permit parents and guardians to select which public 
school of the district their children will attend. Any choice under a plan may be made 
subject to grades taught at that school, space and programming availability and other 
factors determined by the board of directors. Priority must be given to neighborhood 
students and students that reside in a participating municipality with no elementary school 
and then to others as the plan may specifY. The board of directors may establish all 
guidelines and procedures to implement the school choice plan. 
Sec. 18. Existing tuition arrangements. If a student that qualifies for a public 
education by the district is attending a school that is not operated by the district under a 
paid tuition arrangement of a participating member in effect for the 2007-2008 school 
year, that student may continue to attend that school through the year of that student's 
graduating class under the paid tuition arrangement, and a younger sibling of that student 
also may attend that school under the paid tuition arrangement. In each of these cases, 
the district is responsible for the tuition cost in accordance with the general laws and 
applicable tuition agreement, if any, provided that the rate of tuition the district is 
required to pay does not exceed a rate computed in the same manner as the statewide 
average per student cost is computed on the effective date of this Act. This section 
applies only to an eligible municipality that approves this Act on or before November 8, 
2007. The board of directors may adopt and amend from time to time a policy to 
determine any relationships in addition to full-sibling and half-sibling relationships that 
may qualifY for purposes of this section. 
Sec. 19. Budget format and procedure. The format and procedure for the 
school budget to be presented to the voters are the cost center summary budget format 
and the budget validation referendum procedure, or as may be otherwise required by the 
general laws. Separate articles or questions may be used to raise and appropriate funds for 
the adult education budget and other sums that are not part of the annual prekindergarten-
to-grade-12 school budget. The format and procedure may only be changed to the extent, 
if any, permitted or required by the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter l03-A. 
Sec. 20. Woolwich construction project. This section applies only if the Town 
of Woolwich is a participating member. The costs for the Town of Woolwich's school 
construction project currently on the State's priority list remains the responsibility of the 
town during the interim period, but the town's school committee and the initial board of 
directors of the district have joint decision-making responsibility for that project. 
I 
Department of Education and State Board of Education approvals for that project are not 
affected by the assumption of that project by the district, and those approvals are deemed 
to be approvals of the district. If the project is ready for referendum approval before July 
I, 2008, the board of directors is authorized to conduct a referendum for the project and 
its financing by the district in accordance with the general laws. The referendum may 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT -:f;" to H.P. 685, L.D. 910 
occur during the interim period. Following the interim period, the board of directors is 
responsible for the financing of that project if approved by the voters of the district. The 
organization of the district does not affect any state subsidy of debt for this project or the 
relative portion of that debt paid or reimbursed by the State. The district shall give the 
Town of Woolwich a reduction in its assessment of the town for costs paid by the Town 
of Woolwich that are approved by the State Board of Education for inclusion in the 
project budget and incurred in anticipation of the issuance of refunding bonds for the 
project. 
Sec. 21. 
Municipal balloting. 
The municipal officers of each eligible 
municipality shall submit this Act to a vote of the residents on or before November 6, 
2007. Filing and publication requirements, to the extent applicable, may be shortened by 
the respective municipal officers to comply with this deadline. In the City of Bath, this 
Act must be submitted to a vote at a referendum election conducted according to the city 
charter and the laws governing city elections. In each of the other eligible municipalities, 
this Act must be submitted to a referendum at town meeting under the procedures of the 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, section 2528 and any applicable municipal charter. 
For purposes of approving this Act, the municipal officers of each participating member 
shall place a question in substantially the following form before the voters: 
"Do you favor joining with other schools in the lower Kennebec River 
area to form a regional school unit?" 
The municipal officers of an eligible municipality shall file with the State Board of 
Education an attested return of the voting results in that municipality. The district must 
be organized under this Act only if the Act is accepted by a majority of the legal voters 
voting on the question in the City of Bath and in at least 3 of the 5 other eligible 
municipalities, in which case the district consists of those approving municipalities, and 
the eligible municipalities that have not accepted this Act are not participating members 
of the district by virtue of this Act. ' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment is the minority report of the Joint Standing Committee on Education 
and Cultural Affairs. The amendment strikes and replaces the bill to authorize the school 
administrative units of the City of Bath and the towns of Arrowsic, Georgetown, 
Phippsburg, West Bath and Woolwich to merge into and organize as a single regional 
school unit to become operative July 1, 2008. The amendment provides that, upon a vote 
of the residents of these municipalities, the respective school administrative units become 
participating members of this regional school unit. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 06/06/07 ;tvae 
LD910 
LR 705(03) 
An Act To Support Regionalization of Public Schools and Achieve Efficiency and Improve Quality 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment" Q" 
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs 
.J.) 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
No State fiscal impact 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
This bill will not affect the total cost ofK-12 public education or the General Fund appropriation required to fund the 
State's share beginning in fiscal year 2008-09. 
LR0705(03) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1