The voters have spoken. A committed and loud minority of teabaggers combined with a few angry independents have elected Paul LePage as the Governor of Maine with 38% of the vote (independent Eliot Cutler came in second with 37%), as well as a new Republican legislature, after eight years of an admittedly unpopular Democratic governor (John Baldacci). As a result, education is about to take a helmet to helmet hit. LePage was the beneficiary of a perfect storm of anti-incumbent anger and a five way race that gave him an advantage because of his committed base who would gladly buy dotcom stocks from him if given the opportunity.
I can think of a million reasons why LePage is set to make tough times even tougher in a state that seems to age two or three years every day and whose kids have been leaving the state in droves for years (and will continue to do so when they see that University of Maine System tuition has skyrocketed). Oh sure, taxes are about to be slashed, but the cost of living is about to go up along with it. Insurance companies like Anthem will ask for and receive 30% rate hikes, for instance. Tuition rates in the University of Maine System and the Community College System will go up. LePage loves to tout his welfare reform plan, but the fact is that 89% of those who receive assistance from the state are children, disabled, or seniors. 17% of Maine children live in poverty today. Maine's median age is by far the oldest in the nation. What's going to happen to the many seniors who live on fixed incomes and rely on services like Meals on Wheels? What's going to happen to those kids who will be cold and hungry come wintertime?
These concerns, however, pale in comparison to LePage's ideas on education, which were taken straight out of the playbook of the likes of Glenn Beck and Rand Paul and in my opinion represent an unmatched low point in the history of our state. LePage wants to make cuts of 35-45% in K-12 education, and with a Republican legislature beholden to a party platform from the "You Can't Make This Shit Up" department, this grisly scenario may be about to become reality. Thousands of teachers are about to lose their jobs and extracurricular activities will be slashed. Students will have a tougher time with the increased student to teacher ratio, especially those in special ed. Programs like sports, art, and music are also about to fall to the wayside, programs that have been proven time and time again to keep kids in the classroom and out of trouble, as well as provide higher learning opportunities to kids with diverse talents.
The worst part is that LePage and the Republicans positively, absolutely want to do this purely to score political points with people who see public education as a Marxist enterprise designed to indoctrinate our youth with gay sex for kindergarteners and abortion on demand for teenagers. There is no other reason. You could hear this in LePage's preposterous and perhaps legally actionable claim that education in this state is run by "union bosses" and that Democratic candidate Libby Mitchell (a former schoolteacher) is "married" to them.
Interesting, I didn't know a union (Maine Education Association) that is legally banned from going out on strike (thus compromising any and all leverage) had such an iron grip on the whole process. That's a new one on me. I know for a fact that the current teacher contract did not give teachers a raise this year and will not give them one for next year, not even to keep up with inflation (which essentially means they are taking a pay cut).
These facts by their very nature refute LePage's utterly false claims. They are already making sacrifices in the current climate. The idea that any elected official statewide would demonize an entire profession without any facts to back it up (other than a few bad teachers), let alone one that is so instrumental to nurturing our young minds for our future, is an outrage made worse by the fact that someone like this could actually get elected. And as if that weren't bad enough, he even intends to reject millions in federal funds for our education.
It is way past time for people to view education through the prism of individual teachers and not the demagogued "teacher's union." I was fortunate to receive the highest quality public education that one can have. It is profoundly disturbing to me that in the coming months, public school teachers across the state will be laid off due to the sudden slash of funding and Maine university students will find themselves struggling to cover for inevitable tuition hikes.
To me, this is an issue that goes way beyond partisan politics. I want teachers in the classroom, opportunities for the students, and reasonable standardized testing that does not end up replacing entire curriculums. Some cuts may have to be made in the present economy, but 35-45%? That's a billion dollars (1/6 of Maine's General Fund). There is absolutely no way anyone can think that there is that much fat in the system. LePage's ideas are pure politics, nothing more. Education is an investment that must be made at the state level no matter what the circumstances, for it is essential to our collective future.
There is no other alternative for me: I have to pull that dreaded page from Rush Limbaugh's playbook and say it loud and long: I want Paul LePage to fail, and I want him to fail miserably.