"Critics of Maine's public schools try to ignore the good news about our students' performance on national test scores and they dismiss MEA's defense of educators as self-serving." "What they can't block out is the voice of educators and parents. In this increasingly hostile political environment, educators across the state must step up and make their voices heard." "If you read a stupid editorial, take ten minutes to write a short reply. If you run into a critic, don't walk away – set them straight. Be an advocate for your programs and students." Mark L. Gray Executive Director Maine Education Association

 

Cut school budgets by $460 million The critics of public education are getting louder and two pieces in the Portland Press Herald are part of a growing trend. Tony Payne, executive director of the pro-business Alliance For Maine's Future, says he has simple solutions for curing what is wrong with "Maine's education behemoth:" Reduce costs by reducing the number of teachers. Reduce costs for special education students by reducing services. Reduce costs by reducing the number of non-teaching staff. Provide teachers with incentives (merit pay) based upon measurable results (student test scores). Clean out the deadwood by releasing burned-out teachers and redundant administrators. Evidently, Payne thinks the same free market approaches that made Goldman Sachs and Enron so successful can be applied to public education. To improve the bottom line of profitability (accountability) in education, he says Maine should cut schools budgets by more than $460 million and terminate thousands of educators. Payne asks for your response and you are encouraged to provide it. Link: Press Herald Opinions  Linking pay to student performance And, the editors of the Portland Press Herald, frequent critics of MEA, give us a chance to "redeem" ourselves by "allowing student progress to become one measure of a teacher's performance" in the teacher evaluation models being developed in support of Maine's Race to the Top (RTTT) grant application. Link: Press Herald Opinions You are encouraged to share your thoughts with them on RTTT and their editorial. Member responds to low performance claim Rita Wakefield of Carrabec High in North Anson vented her anger at Race To The Top in a guest editorial published in the Lewiston Sun Journal. Her small school was designated as one of Maine's lowest performers; she rebuts the designation and points out the flaws in the selection process. FMI on RTTT from MEA.