LePage calls for back-to-basics curriculum, public funding for private and parochial schools

Sep. 19—Former Gov. Paul LePage unveiled a proposed back-to-basics education plan on Monday he said will help students who have fallen behind during the pandemic, cut costs through consolidation, and empower parents through school vouchers and a more formal seat at the educational table.

At the heart of this proposal is what the Republican candidate is calling his Parents Bill of Rights. It echoes plans from Republicans in other states and focuses on math, science and reading. It also calls for the removal of sexually explicit instruction.

"I'm ready to roll up my sleeves on day one and make sure all Mainers have the opportunity to create a better life for themselves and their families," said LePage, who was joined inside the Buker Community Center in Augusta, a former school, by a handful of dissatisfied mothers of school-age children.

Democrats said LePage's plan was a misdirection to distract from the harm that he did to Maine public schools while he was governor. He underfunded public schools and childcare, attacked and criticized teachers, ran through multiple education commissioners, and set a bad example for children, they said.

"Paul LePage failed Maine parents and children for eight years," said Democratic Party Chairman Drew Gattine. "There is a reason why Republicans and Democrats joined together in bipartisan unity time after time to reject LePage's attacks on public education."

The plan calls for more transparency regarding curriculum and teaching materials, parental notification of sensitive material and the ability to opt out, and the creation of a parents' governing board to provide feedback and recommendations to the state Department of Education.

LePage is proposing a voucher system that would allow parents to use the entire state share of a child's public school education costs, or the per pupil spending, to pay for tuition at parochial or private schools. Critics say that vouchers favor students of means who have transportation and contribute to failing public schools.

The proposal also calls for teacher and district incentives to tutor students who fell behind under Mills' pandemic policies, to reorganize education dollars to offer afterschool care to 5:00 p.m. to help working mothers get back to work, and starting vocational education in middle school.

LePage said education had been the great equalizer in his life, and opened the door for him to escape the crushing poverty of his youth that had led to him being homeless on the streets of Lewiston at the age of 11. He eventually earned an MBA from University of Maine.

He noted that he was a product of school choice, having attended parochial schools.

The education issue plays well among Maine conservatives who don't like what they perceive to be the encroachment of social issues like sexual and gender diversity into the public school classroom, even if those issues are largely controlled at the local level, not the state.

LePage said Monday he didn't want to take any of that control away from towns and cities, but implied that he would withhold some percentage of the state's local education funding to any municipality that didn't comply with his education plan — like his consolidation proposal, for example. LePage said he wants to consolidate the state's education system, combining schools to reduce the number of administrators and other staff.

Democrats jumped on this aspect of the proposal and painted it as LePage throwing his weight around.

"Maine has a longstanding tradition of local control, one in which we empower parents and school boards to work together to decide what belongs in schools and classrooms," Gattine said. "Maine parents don't want and don't need Paul LePage getting in the way."

LePage is also hoping to capitalize on a national wave of parent frustration with public schools to make new inroads into Maine's suburbs, an area where Democrats have traditionally done well. He is betting on a reservoir of parental resentment and perceived learning loss that built up during the pandemic.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, introduced legislation to create a federal Parents' Bill of Rights in November.

"America has long recognized the right of parents to direct their children's education but we are now seeing a concerted effort by the left to shut parents out," Hawley said at the time, saying educators had quietly introduced critical race theory into schools among other things. "It's time to give control back to parents, not woke bureaucrats, and empower them to start a new era of openness in education," he said.

Maine Democrats accused LePage was jumping on the bandwagon — one led by Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, whose back-to-basics education plan was frequently cited by Maine Republicans during their party convention in the spring. Youngkin campaigned for LePage in Lewiston earlier this month.

"LePage is taking a national Republican playbook and trying to import it into Maine," Gattine said.