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Students from across the state had an opportunity to ask all five gubernatorial candidates a host of questions on topics ranging from the economy to education on Wednesday night during a forum held at Bangor High School.
The event, sponsored by The Maine Coalition for Excellence In Education, was broadcast live on both television and the Internet and featured questions crafted by high school youth leaders and their peers from around the state. The event was moderated by WABI news anchor Jon Small with a format that allowed a certain number of students to voice their questions in person with others coming from satellite sites across Maine.
The forum focused primarily on education. The candidates were asked to discuss the ways in which they would strengthen Maine’s public school system, deal with ever-increasing drop-out rates and improve economic conditions for those entering the workforce and going on to post-secondary education.
With the general election less than a week away, all five candidates moved to clearly outline many of their plans.
Independent Eliot Cutler received the first question of the night and wasted no time in getting to specifics. He acknowledged that Maine faces too many problems when it comes to education but said the first step in any fix would be to stabilize the state’s economy before any significant steps could be taken.
“In order to provide more resources to our schools, we need to rethink the way we do business in Maine. We need to look at the disparities in regional wages and stop implementing existing resources in foolish ways,” Cutler said. “We need to give the lifeblood back to our communities and get things stabilized.”
Cutler then highlighted his plans to merge the state’s community colleges and bring better efficiency to the University of Maine System by removing duplicated services. He said the state’s university system has been organized to fail, not to succeed.
Additionally, he called for amendments to Maine’s charter school laws, saying if the schools were reinforced and diversified by Augusta then they would provide students with greater skills.
Democrat Libby Mitchell refuted the claim by saying she was not “sold” on charter schools as they may lead to the denial of equal resources to those in public schools.
Mitchell said one of the best solutions to the problems of education in Maine is to identify what works for successful schools and recreate that success across the state.
“The jobs of the future will require far more than just a high school education,” Mitchell said. “At all levels, we must work together to provide students with the things they need to go above and beyond, and that takes an ability to know what works and what does not.”
Mitchell asked the audience to remember many of the programs she helped to establish or strengthen during her time as a legislator, such as the Head Start Program or child development services. She also defended state aid to public schools.
Republican Paul LePage tried striking a different chord with students and voters. In addition to calling for greater accountability in state government and less regulation over the private sector, he recommended fundamental changes in the way Maine provides opportunity to its students. He also said it was important to get vocational schools back to the core of education in the state.
“It’s unrealistic to think that every single student in this state is bound for college — it’s just not going to happen,” he said. “By giving our students more options, you are playing to their potential skill sets and the trades have been out of the picture too long.”
LePage also said it would be a good idea to allow students to accumulate up to two years of college credits while in high school. He said it would ease the burden of all costs associated with attending college, though he did not specify how such a change would be funded.
The other independent candidates, Kevin Scott and Shawn Moody, each specified a number of efforts they would undertake to reform education if elected as Maine’s next governor.
Moody suggested a renewed focus on statewide cooperative programs that would allow high school students to work while in school, helping them develop skills in the field in which they choose to work.
Scott said the next governor would have to be a champion of education willing to work in a partnership with state administrators to bring about better performances in Maine schools. He also said it would do the state good to evaluate course standards to insure they actually prepare students for the demands of the future.
All candidates agreed on a need to address the dropout rate in Maine, which stands at 20 percent, according to the Maine Coalition for Excellence In Education.
“It’s a liability to society any time a student drops out of high school,” Moody said.
The candidates generally expressed a need to identify potential dropouts at an early age and develop resources that could target those in jeopardy.
Despite any agreement on dropout rates, the candidates diverged on a question concernimg how taxes would be reformed to deal with decreasing state aid to public schools.
“It’s all about planning. We need to attract better paying jobs and be more friendly with the private sector by reducing these restrictive regulations,” LePage said. “Education is the No. 1 priority and, in my experience, there is never enough [money] for it and there won’t be in this state until we turn the tide and reduce spending. By doing so, we’ll be able to generate more resources for schools across Maine.”
Cutler replied by saying there will need to be a major reform in Maine’s tax structure, but he recommended the state should re-examine its investments in certain areas of education in the meantime. He said by making schools more community-driven and more centralized in sharing services such as daycares, adult education and other programs, costs might drop and quality may rise.
Mitchell acknowledged that any balance between spending and taxes is hard to achieve. She suggested revisiting the states tax on liquor to generate more revenue that could then be reinvested in education in the form of student endowments.
Moody called for a reinvigorated tax base through assisting small businesses, while Scott said the operating costs of state government could be significantly reduced to compensate for a lack of aid not provided by taxes.
At the end of the forum, candidates were asked how they would vote Tuesday on a series of ballot questions. On Question 1, Cutler, Mitchell and Moody will vote against a proposal to build a casino in Oxford County and vote in favor of Questions 2 and 3, bond issues that will allow the state to borrow millions to help fund dental clinics statewide and maintain state parks, respectively.
Scott did not specify, much to the disappointment of the audience. He said he does not share how he votes. LePage said he would not vote on the casino issue, but said he will vote in support of Question 2 and against Question 3.
Bangor Daily News