PORTLAND -- A report written by The Maine Heritage Policy Center's (MHPC) Education Policy Director, Stephen Bowen, notes the widespread popularity of the school budget validation process included in the school district reorganization law, as well as the tremendous savings it has created for taxpayers.

Under the budget validation process of the new law, all Maine school districts are required to develop a budget proposal, explain the budget at a public meeting and put it to a vote of those in attendance. If approved then, a district-wide referendum vote would determine the budget's fate. If the budget fails at any point during the process, it goes back to the school committee to be reworked before the process repeats itself.

Although the new reorganization law requires all school districts to adopt the budget validation process, MHPC's report explains that three school districts are already using the process with great success. The Mexico-area's SAD 43, the Holden-area's SAD 63 and the Hampden-area's SAD 22 began using the process shortly after Maine's Title 20-A statute allowed districts to do so on a voluntary basis in 1999.

The popularity of the budget validation process among the three SADs is easy to measure because of a provision in Title 20-A requiring the entire process go before voters every three years once they have adopted it. In 2005, 78 percent of SAD 43 residents voted to retain the budget validation process. In 2006, voters in SAD 63 and SAD 22 kept the process with a 77 percent and 85 percent vote, respectively.

"Where the budget validation process has been in place, residents have overwhelmingly approved of it and continue supporting its use," Bowen said. "Critics of the process who allege that the added work and costs are too great should pay close attention to these results."

In addition to widespread public support, an examination of the three SADs' average budget growth reveals significant savings since the budget validation process took effect.

The report explains that the 2004-2005 school year was the first in which all three SADs used the budget validation process and that in the five years prior the average budget growth across the three SADs was 4.16 percent. The following year saw budgets grow by an average of 3.17 percent, and the year after saw average growth of just 2.59 percent. The budget validation process saved residents of the three SADs $720,000.

"We should embrace the budget validation process for all of Maine," Bowen said. "This is an extremely popular program that has shown real and meaningful savings. The budget validation process must remain a cornerstone of the district reorganization process so every Maine taxpayer can realize its benefits."

The Maine Heritage Policy Center is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational organization based in Portland, Maine. The Maine Heritage Policy Center formulates and promotes free market, conservative public policies in the areas of economic growth, fiscal matters, health care, education, and transparency - providing solutions that will benefit all the people of Maine. Contributions to MHPC are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.