AUGUSTA -- In their current form, the systems governing education in Maine from kindergarten through 12th grade and at the university level are unsustainable.

For that reason, Maine's public school systems are now embarking upon major changes in the way they're governed. At the university system, major change is in store.

Those were the messages Monday from Maine Department of Education and the University of Maine System officials speaking at an annual day of panel discussions sponsored by the Maine Center for Economic Policy.

The panel discussion came one day after University of Maine System Chancellor Richard L. Pattenaude detailed plans for designing and implementing "transformational" changes at the seven-campus university system.

The discussion also came as Maine's 290 school districts continue their efforts to merge into 80 larger, regional districts to comply with state law.

"What has been sustainable in the past will certainly not be sustainable in the future," David Connerty-Marin, the Department of Education's communications director, told an audience of legislators, lobbyists and others.