To the editor:
A recent bill has been approved to restructure our current school system. Last year the Governor said we were underpaying our teachers and pushed the Legislature forcing small school districts to pay teachers’ salaries at a higher rate (a much higher rate in some areas). The Governor said we were not paying enough and forced us to increase our small school union budget to increase teachers’ pay. Now this year we are being told we are overspending in our schools and the state needs to save millions of dollars. Our state wasted over $50 million on a computer fiasco that did not work a few years ago and we are now sacrificing the education of our children to make up for this.
I am an elected school board member (elected by the residents of the town in which I reside). This bill will eliminate hundreds of elected positions in our state in this effort to restructure our schools into “Super Schools.” All school districts must now have more than 2,500 students.
I ask you when bigger anything has ever been better? Why did the residents of Maine have no say in this? All of our local rights and privileges have been taken from us. Small towns will be at the mercy of large systems that will dictate what, where and how much we pay to educate our children.
You are being told to pay more and have little to no say in the end. I encourage all residents to raise your voice for democracy because it is slowly slipping away.
Wanda Anderson
Woodland
