I Hate to be a "I Told You So", But.....

     Here we are in the beginning of a new fiscal year and the end of another contentious state budget process. What was accomplished during this budget development process? The Governor and both Republicans and Democrats claimed they were held hostage (via a state shutdown that no one wanted) by the 'other side'. Winners and losers. That's the way our society views success now. Pitiful.

     In an Oct. 29, 2016 post, I expressed my doubt about the success of the then pending vote on Referendum Question #2 which would levy a surtax on the wealthiest Mainers and dedicate the use of that money to public education, specifically money to be allocated to direct classroom instruction. To be clear, I supported, and still do, the notion that public education should be adequately funded.  The PICUS report, which I detailed in that October post, concluded that Maine underfunds public education by millions of dollars. Further, Maine citizens passed a previous referendum calling for the state to fund 55% of public education. I questioned whether passing another referendum would make any difference since future legislatures and governors can choose to ignore voters' wishes when developing the budget.

     So here we are in July of 2017, eight months after Maine voters supported Referendum Question 2. And after the current legislature voted to again ignore the will of the voters regarding funding of public education. Governor LePage offered a draconian education budget in which he simply would not fund ANY system administration costs statewide. Luckily, there were a majority of both Republicans and Democrats who recognized that fatally flawed plan and worked to restore some of the funding public schools need to operate. However, many school districts' budgets were reduced. And the 55% state funding of education costs? Not yet. The surtax on wealthy Mainers which would have been dedicated to classroom needs? Ignored. Many school departments statewide have had to year after year make difficult choices about what to fund and not fund in their schools. Many towns/cities held their breath while developing a budget with no idea of the amount of state funding coming their way, causing great conflict between local property taxpayers; pitting those who could afford to pay more property tax against those who truly couldn't afford rising taxes. Turmoil at the state level. Turmoil at the local city/town level. Turmoil within the schools when parents and kids realize a program, a service, an extracurricular option has been defunded or eliminated.

     Please tell me who was really held hostage during this legislative session?  Governing by referendum is not ideal. Governing with the ideology that taxes should be done away with is not conducive to promoting the 'common good', which public education is an example of. Everyone benefits from public education. And everyone loses when public education is further eroded.