Education

School boards that make up Union 104 in Eastport, Perry, Pembroke, Charlotte and Dennysville will hold public forums to discuss partnering with other area school districts to consolidate administrative duties mandated by the state.

With the state's plan for school regionalization now to take effect within a year, following passage of a school administrative reorganization law as part of the state budget, school units are already beginning to jockey for potential partners in the newly mandated super districts.

A controversial plan to implement sweeping changes in school administrative units has been adopted by the legislature as part of the state budget. The Maine House of Representatives voted 112 to 29 in favor of the budget, and the Senate enacted the budget by a vote of 28-7 on June 6.

With a drop in state subsidy of nearly $65,000 for the Eastport school system, Superintendent Arthur Wittine has proposed a draft budget that requests a 3% increase in local tax funding and eliminates the art program at Shead High School.

Local school, regional scam, Whiting resident Reinald Neilsen's take on the governor's proposal to regionalize school administration, seemed to sum up the mood of an overflow crowd at the Elm Street School in East Machias.

Sidney and Nancy Unobskey have presented Husson College, centered in Bangor, with property and annual grants valued in excess of $1.5 million, the largest single gift in the college's history.