Gov. John Baldacci’s plan to consolidate Maine’s school districts provoked a chorus of negative comments last week as parents, teachers and school board members in Scarborough, South Portland and Cape Elizabeth met to air their concerns.

Maine legislators Sen. Lynn Bromley and Rep. Jan Eberle were on hand at the session, held last Wednesday at Skillin Elementary School in South Portland, to answer some questions and take note of their constituents’ concerns. At Current press time, a similar forum was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Scarborough High School.

The majority of attendees at the South Portland forum were from Cape Elizabeth. They questioned the small town’s ability to be heard in a bigger district. They wondered how the community would benefit from the consolidation and if, in the end, they would actually see any real savings. They argued that their property values would drop if their school were lumped in a district with surrounding communities.

The big question for districts such as Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough, which both have high-performing schools with low per-pupil costs, is: How will the consolidation plan help their students and their ability to learn? The consensus is that it won’t.

Bromley made it clear to the audience in South Portland that she and Eberle were not trying to push the governor’s plan.

“There is nothing wrong with saying, ‘We don’t like this,'” she said.

“It’s highly unlikely that this plan, as is, is going to get adopted,” she also said.

But people were opposed to almost any change.

“This is working. It’s not broken, so why fix it?” asked Chase Malter, a parent who, along with her husband Steve, recently moved her family from Pennsylvania to Cape Elizabeth. Malter emphasized that she and her husband chose Cape Elizabeth because of the school system.

“Walking into this nightmare six months after moving here is frightening,” Steve Malter added. “We knew what we were getting into tax-wise.”

Another Cape parent, Mike Foley, who was educated in Cape Elizabeth, said he gave up a lot to make sure his child would get the same quality education that he did. “I made a lot of sacrifices to get back to Cape Elizabeth,” he said.

Eberle tried to give a voice to the other side. “I’m hearing a lot of senior citizens who are so grateful we’re talking like this,” she said.

Bromley and Eberle were clear about wanting to hear the opinion of the public, but also encouraged that they consider a compromise.

“The Legislature is about balance – not bold maneuvers,” Bromley said about the role she would play in making their voices heard by the state.

Still, one member of the Cape Elizabeth school board didn’t have any hope for a reasonable compromise.

“The state of Maine can’t manage anything,” said Peter Cotter.

“We may have some highly publicized failures,” Eberle replied, “but we get it right every now and then.”