Augusta education
As a teacher at Old Town High School, I am deeply committed to providing a high-quality education for every student in our town and our state. I also realize the critical role that elected officials in Augusta play in helping our students succeed.
That is why I was pleased to learn that the Maine Education Association has endorsed Emily Cain for State Senate. The MEA represents over 20,000 educators in Maine and advocates on behalf of public schools and the communities they serve.
Emily has been a leader on education issues in Augusta and she will continue to be a strong advocate for public schools when she is elected to the State Senate.
When Gov. Paul LePage proposed sending taxpayer dollars to private, religious schools, Emily Cain helped lead the charge against this bad idea. When it comes to fully funding our schools and making sure our schools have the tools they need to be successful, Emily Cain has been a true champion for students, for teachers, and for our communities.
I will be voting for Emily Cain. And if you care about public education in Maine, I suggest you support her too.
Paul Smith
Augusta
Cushing support
I write in support of Andre Cushing, candidate for State Senate, District 33. As a state representative, Cushing distinguished himself as a hardworking moderate. In 2010 his legislative peers elected Cushing to a House leadership position. He used this position to help advance key legislation, including:
LD 1613, which strengthens the relationship between landowners and land users thereby helping to preserve traditional public access to Maine’s private lands.
LD 1833 — This law change accommodates increased student enrollment in the electrical trades by increasing the number of aspiring electricians allowed to work under a licensed electrician. At least in this area, the construction industry needs more electricians.
LD 1900, which now allows law enforcement officers to accept contributions from the public to support their family during a catastrophic illness or other hardship.
Personally, I had the honor of working with Cushing on the Blue Ribbon Commission
for Affordable Housing. This commission conducted its work during the time when the Maine State Housing Authority was under a great deal of scrutiny. Co-chairman Cushing led the commission through the evaluation and recommendation process in a nonpartisan and professional manner — a job well done in difficult circumstances.
Importantly, Cushing is a businessman — just what we need in Augusta! I urge everyone to vote on Tuesday, June 12.
Randall Poulton
Winterport
Dill endorsement
The most refreshing voice in Maine politics today is Sen. Cynthia Dill. I trust Democrats will endorse her as their candidate for the U.S. Senate. As with retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe, I believe Sen. Dill will represent all Mainers, and do so with wisdom and integrity.
I’ve listened to Dill on the radio, read her commentary in newspapers, followed her votes in the Maine Senate. Capable and articulate, Cynthia Dill is a true progressive who will work for the good of our state and nation. Her priorities are jobs, health care, the environment and social justice.
If elected, Sen. Dill won’t be just another politician for the 1 percent or a shill for corporate lobbyists. In the tradition of Sens. Ed Muskie, Bill Cohen and Margaret Chase Smith, Sen. Dill will continue to distinguish herself as a leader, a listener, a person with strong values and a vision for what America can and should be. A teacher, wife, mother, civil rights lawyer, founder of Friends of the Maine Woods, writer, community volunteer … and yes, Cynthia Dill is a politician. She is the kind of politician you can trust, respect and admire.
I urge you to learn more about her.
Steve Cartwright
Waldoboro
Support Andre Cushing
Voters, please consider voting for Andre Cushing of Hampden, who is running for the State Senate seat vacated by Debra Plowman. Andre is the conservative we need in the Senate to bring some common sense back to the State House.
Andre has eight years experience as state representative for District 39 and now wants to be our senator for the area that includes Hampden, Glenburn, Kenduskeag and Newport. He also has years of experience in the community involvement in the Hampden and Hermon area. Andre is a Realtor and home builder, married for many years and has three children. He attended John Bapst High School and the University of Maine.
Andre has the common sense and knowledge to improve the economy and bring more businesses to our small towns in this area. I have known Andre for 30-plus years and have found him to be an honest, trustworthy, Christian conservative man whom we can count on to tell us the truth, and represent us honestly in the State Senate. Andre is the kind of person that we as parents always hope our children will turn out to be. Please vote for Andre in the June primary so he can continue to represent us in Augusta.
Visit his website at: www.andrecushing.com, email him at andre@andrecushing.com or call him at 358-9447 for more information.
Connie Craven
Corinna
Dunlap support
I am supporting Democrat Matt Dunlap for US Senate in next week’s primary.
I agree with Matt on so many of his positions — here are my top six: (1) that we need to focus on energy efficiency as a way to save money as well as fossil fuels; (2) every aspect of the health care delivery system needs to reshaped to meet the needs of the modern patient; (3) need to raise income limits on Social Security; (4) policymakers cannot be handcuffed by pledges [to not increase taxes] and neither should the republic; (5) that giving school vouchers erodes resources for the public schools; and (6) balancing the federal budget is a priority — stop the Bush-era tax cuts as well as subsidizing big oil gas and agribusiness.
Pam Person
Orland
Place your X
Primary voting day is June 12, less than a week away. I would like to introduce R. Blaine Richardson, the Republican candidate who will best represent Mainers in Congressional District 2.
Blaine is a 30-year Navy veteran (retired captain) and he is a strong backer of our United States Constitution. He will not waver on his pro-life stand, nor will he give any credence to Obamacare, stimulus packages, or anything else that will cause taxpayers to be undermined, as we have been by the votes of Mike Michaud, and would be by the other Republican candidate in this primary — after all, the former is a staunch Obama supporter, not a true Blue Dog Democrat and the latter is an Olympia clone, having previously worked for her.
Maximize your vote and place your X in the box beside R. Blaine Richardson for United States Congress.
Sharon I. Rideout
Hermon
Paul Smith
With the current state of education in Maine as it is why would you responsibly want to put back into play the same characters that created a subpar failing system with a high school graduation rate of only slightly more than 80%?
We need a change in policies and not go back to the policies that created this mess. The only reason the MEA would endorse a candidate is her or his perceived compliance to union wishes. In other words, who would make the best puppet.
Sharon Rideout, Mr. Richardson has signed feilty to Grover Norquist. He is not running to represent the citizens of Maine. If elected he would join a the huge majority of Republicans in Congress who are under contract to Grover Norquist.
Bangor Daily, please put the Web layout back to the way it was. Letters have to be the most sought after feature of the Opinion section. They used to be right there to click on. Now readers have to navigate through the menu to get to them.
So Randy you are an ALEC supporter too? Hope the voters in Winterport know that. Mr. Cushing takes his direction from ALEC. Will you too if you are elected?
How many of these liberal/left legislators answer to the Progressive States Network. We don’t hear much about them from you folks.
Good question. Don’t know. I only know I want my representative to represent me, not some lobbying group, left or right.
And why shouldn’t parents have their share of taxpayer dollars to send their children to private, religious schools where it costs less per student to operate than in the public realm. No surprise that Emily Cain is endorsed by the MEA, an affiliate of the NEA which is the largest lobby in D.C. Perhaps we need to have a lesson learned from the Wisconsin governor when it comes to the power of the unions.
Richardson, R. Blaine is on the ballot, and I would strongly suggest placing your vote for him. He is running to represent Maine and her people, as well as our country, which is in dire straits under the present administration.
Why should my tax dollars go to educate a child at a private or religious school?
If you want to send your child to either you should pay the cost of that education. If you want a voucher for the amount of tax that you, personally, pay towards your child’s education (it will be a lot less than the cost of educating your child and much less if you have multiple children in school at the same time) then fine but that will not make sending your child to a private or parochial school any easier.
The government is extracting taxes from us to send children to public schools, schools that many parents object to. It’s time for this money to be used for education, regardless of where it is obtained as long as it meets standards that prepare our children to meet the challenges of tomorrow. I can’t figure out why anyone would oppose that unless they have a political agenda akin to social engineering to achieve. As far as I’m concern, I say let freedom ring once again by letting other schools compete by putting an end to public school monopolies.
If my tax dollars are spent to send kids to private schools then the private schools should be held to the same standards as public schools. They should not be allowed to cherry pick their students and reject any that don’t conform to their cookie cutter patterns. They should have to take special ed students, supply free meals, etc. If they aren’t willing to play on the same field then they will not have my support.
Like I said you can have a voucher for the amount of money you directly give to support public education. For example, if you live in a town with a budget that spends 50% of it on education and you pay $1,000 dollars in taxes you can have a voucher for $500 to go towards whatever school you want to send your child(ren) to.
Why should you get a voucher for $6,000 – $7,000 per child?
Public schools do not have a monopoly on education. You can send your child to any type of school you wish, just don’t expect the taxpayers to foot the bill. Or is socialism OK as long as you agree with the uses?
The main reasons people don’t like public schools, as far as I can tell, is that they don’t allow prayer (what a joke, no one is stopped from praying quietly), don’t have the pledge of Allegiance (which never made any one more patriotic) or teaches science over myth (Evolution over the myth of creationism or Intelligent design).
Private schools and parochial schools do not have to live by the same rules as Public schools. They do not have to take all children, regardless of their educational potential or behavoiral problems (no special needs or disruptive students), provide free or subsidized school meals (sometimes the only decent meal a child gets all day). That is why private or parochial schools seem to do a better job, for less, than public schools.
I would like to see how well a private school or parochail school would test out with Spec. Ed. students or children in troubled homes included in their testing procedures.
Why should a parent get a voucher for $6,000 to $7,000 per child when it cost that much to educate a child, you ask? I say, “Why not?”. Tax payers are paying at least that much per child in pubic schools. One way or another, the tax payer ends up footing the bill for a child’s education. So why are you telling me I shouldn’t expect the tax payer to foot the bill when the tax payer already does? Incidentally Catholic schools teach evolution as a theory. And besides, they don’t even teach creationism. But why the insistence on teaching evolution when it hardly makes an ounce of difference for children going to schools (colleges) of higher learning? In fact many students who believe in creationism are now successful doctors, and yes, even medical researchers.
Personally, I believe in evolution even though I know the theory needs refining. If my neighbor believes in creationism, I don’t see how this affects me or anyone. All I have to say is this: let’s put a final end to social engineering and unnecessary control by the government. The only way to prevent government encroachment in private citizens’ lives is to fund all elementary and secondary schools, both public and private, alike so parents can make the choice of school for their own children.
But you are asking taxpayers to subsidize an elite, more expensive education without the protections and safeguards for less then stellar students. If you want taxpayer help to educate your child use the public education system and be actively involved in that school system.
How many school board meetings do you go to? How many school board meetings does the average person (especially the peopel who hate public education) go to?
I think you might have missed what I stated. “The only way to prevent government encroachment …is to fund all …schools ALIKE.”. Thus if a parent wants to send their daughter to a private school with an annual tuition cost of $20,000, they should get a voucher amounting to $6,000 or $7,000, or an amount close to the cost of educating a similar student in the public school system. As you can see I support all schools, not just some. Your insistence on a safeguard for less stellar students amounts to an admission by you that public schools systems are inferior. For the most part I agree with you. That’s why competition is needed even though public school enrollment capacity far exceeds that of private schools.
You just showed how vouchers will help the rich save money on sending their children to private schools while undermining Public Education as a whole.
I am not saying that public schools are inferior, some are and some aren’t but the inferior students do not have the chance to attend private schools because of aptitude or attitude but public schools have to take in those same students and get graded on the same scale as private schools do. How many private schools will keep a disruptive, violent or uncooperative student on their roster? The answer is none while public schools really have no choice but to keep all but the most violent students.
As for giving a voucher of $6,000 to $7,000 per student, that will just make it less expensive for those who can already afford to send their children to school. Here are two examples.
Parent A makes $40,000 a year and has two children he/she would love to send to a private school (costing $20,000 a year per student). There is no way he can send two children to a private school so neither are going to go to private school. Even with two vouchers worth $12,000 he is still not going to be able to afford to send both children to school and I doubt a loving parent would send one to a private school and tell the other that he/she has to go to a public school.
Parent B makes $100,000 a year and currently sends both children to a private school costing $40,000 a year. He/she gets two vouchers worth $12,000 saving him $12,000 for whatever other expenses he/she may have or to add to savings.
Giving parents vouchers does not guarantee that any parents who are not currently sending their children to private school will be able to send their children to private schools. There may not be any available openings (most, if not all, decent private schools do not have empty classroom seats) but it will make it less expensive for those already in those private schools.
“The only way to prevent government encroachment in private citizens’ lives is to fund all elementary and secondary schools, both public and private, alike so parents can make the choice of school for their own children.”
As long as private school have to take special needs students and others that public schools have to take then fine but I doubt private schools would allow that to happen.
Some private schools do take in special needs students. If the cost of educating these is greater – which it is – then the amounts parents who choose private schooling for their special needs children receive ought to reflect the increased cost as well.
I don’t see why you object to those private schools that might not want to enroll special needs students. Usually most special needs students are placed in dedicated school rooms with a special-ed teacher. Others who can perform academically to the grade standards of their peers end up in the same classroom and have the same curriculum as the majority has.
I have experience in the public school system both as a concerned parent and as an educator for a number of years. All my children attended public schools as there were no private schools in the area. That said, I support all schools, not just some schools.
I have a couple friends who are special needs instructors so I have some knowledge about how children with special needs are.
One example I can give is a friend of mine had her foot broken by a 2nd grade child. This child was an still is a problem child, she should have been in 5th grade but had been held back 3 times. This child is still in that same school, now a 3rd grader. How many private schoold would have allowed that child to stay in their school. I’ll bet none would have because they can always expell them and the public school will have to take the child in.
Also in most public schools there are students in class that are disruptive and do not want to learn so they make it difficult for the teacher to actually teach, Again, how many private schools are going to allow those students to stay in their school when they can just expell them knowing that public schools will have to allow the student back into school?
I have read article about Charter schools expelling proiblem children or children that are not performing well enough acedemically to keep their school performance at a high level. That is not how a school should be run but it is.
Ms. Rideout, there could be no better sacrificial lamb to run against Congressman Michaud than R. Blaine Richardson. His first initial stands for reactionary.
Sharon Rideout: If the fetus you save is gay, will you still fight for it’s rights?
LakelabsX3: A child’s right-to-life is ITS(not it’s) most basic right, whether stated by S. Rideout or Blaine Richardson. Where would many supporters of the opposite be today, if their mothers had decided that they were not worth bringing into this world?