A recent newspaper article cites studies showing the test scores of Maine students are unchanged and, in some locals, getting worse. Many Maine students and their families are bound into underachieving educational institutions and cannot choose better alternatives. Sadly, the results of public education bear out the statement of former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who said she could “look at your zip code and tell whether your going to get a good education…. The crisis of K-12 education is a threat to the fabric of who we are.” Yet, the first act of the new Democrat majority in Maine was to cut education funding. This after the Republicans in the last legislature increased funding for education. Democrats seem blindly attached to the status quo in the defense of their own special interests.
So what of priorities and what of choice? Is education to be bound to a rigid one-size fits all mandate governed by the few and the outdated? Should the first goal of the Democrat majority be to cut funding to schools and deny choice to Mainers?
They have already disparaged the most vulnerable of Maine by attempting to block payment to the hospitals, which tend to our sick and needy. Our hospitals are financially strapped as a result of Democrat passed legislative mandates. These financial agreements made between hospitals and State was made with a certain expectation of fidelity and honesty in the relationship. It was expected that restitution and payment would be made for services rendered. But Democrats have found other more enticing endeavors to fund with monies bound by contract and law. As usual, the dutiful partner is left holding the bill for the harlotries of the promiscuous other half.
The Democrats have regained the majority and have quickly showed the true intent of their soul by the revelation of their first and foremost of priorities. They have first cut funding to our schools, then are attempting to block the payment to hospitals, attempting to cut funding to charter schools, blocking school choice and, of course, a myriad of legislation to ban guns. Do you feel represented or repressed here in the new Democrat majority?