After months of waiting while the Legislature made changes to the school district consolidation law, most districts have resumed work on merger plans.

Some officials said the delay means they will not put proposals before voters this June as originally planned. They said they will now wait until November elections, taking advantage of the new deadline for voting, which is Jan. 30. The newly reorganized districts are supposed to start operating by July 2009.

"We have lost some momentum," said Falmouth School Superintendent George Entwistle.

Falmouth and School Administrative District 51, which includes Cumberland and North Yarmouth, have submitted one of only three proposed reorganization plans to win approval from the state Department of Education.

The Legislature passed a law last year aimed at reducing the state's 290 school districts to about 80 through mergers as a way to save on school administration costs. Communities with more than 2,500 students are exempt.

On April 18, four months later than expected, the Legislature revised the law to make mergers more financially feasible, and to allow districts as small as 1,000 to 1,200 students in some isolated rural areas.

Under special legislation because the towns organized before the merger law was passed, Arrowsic, Bath, West Bath, Phippsburg and Woolwich are becoming the Lower Kennebec Regional School Unit, scheduled to start operations July 1. That district already has elected its new regional school board, which is at work on a budget that will go to voters next month.

A merger of the School Administrative District 16 towns of Hallowell and Farmingdale with Monmouth, Dresden and Richmond also has won state approval.

There are 64 merger plans on track, but 39 districts are officially out of compliance because their plans do not meet the law's requirements. Some of those communities, including Kittery and Acton, have failed to find merger partners.

Kittery Superintendent Larry Littlefield said his district's work on a merger came to a standstill in December when it became clear surrounding districts were not interested in joining with his town.

"There is nothing new," he said.

Kittery and Acton school officials said changes made to the law don't help them and they are waiting to hear from Education Commissioner Susan Gendron on how to proceed.

Another seven districts, including York and Wells-Ogunquit, have filed for merger exemptions. York and Wells-Ogunquit claim they meet the state's standards for financial efficiency and high academic performance that allow districts to opt out of mergers. Only a handful of districts in the state, such as Yarmouth and Cape Elizabeth, have been able to prove they meet those standards.

State officials say they still expect about 80 districts to emerge by the July 2009 deadline. Education department spokesman David Connerty-Marin said many of the 39 towns out of compliance will be able to move ahead because of a new provision that allows geographically isolated, rural communities to merge into districts as small as 1,000 students. He said other communities seeking exemptions should hear back from Gendron in the next couple of weeks.

"Things are moving along, " he said.

Reorganization planning committees that continued to meet while the proposed changes to the law languished in the Legislature said they are fairly sure they will not put merger proposals before their voters this June.

"It has become quite doubtful," said John Gleason of Freeport, who is part of a committee considering a merger between Freeport, Pownal and Durham.

Falmouth, Cumberland and North Yarmouth officials do not expect a June vote, either. And residents of those towns are not really tuned into the merger debate, Entwistle said.

"People's eyes glaze over a bit after the first eight to 10 minutes of consolidation talk because it is very complicated," he said.

Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

bquimby@pressherald.com

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