FUNDING RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS DEFEATED IN MAINE SENATE

Bipartisan Support Defeated Governor’s Religious School Bill

AUGUSTA – The Maine State Senate rejected Governor LePage’s effort to use public taxpayer dollars to fund private, religious school. In a vote of 24 – 8, some Republicans joined Democrats in defeating the measure which would have undercut Maine’s public schools.

According to recent Maine Department of Education reports, Maine is currently underfunding public education by $400 million.

“Siphoning tax payer money to pay for religious education undercuts Maine’s public education,” said Assistant Democratic Leader Justin Alfond, who also serves on the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. “Schools are already being asked to do more with less and taking money away from our public schools will result in cutting programs and lost opportunities for our students.”

LePage’s bill, LD 1866, “An Act to Remove Inequity in Student Access to Certain School,” would have created a voucher system redistributing taxpayer dollars from funding public education to funding private, religious schools. The Education committee voted 10 – 3 against the governor’s bill earlier this month. The measure was strongly opposed during the public hearing.

“We need to work on solutions to improve our public schools, not putting forth ideas and proposals that erode public education,” said Senator Seth Goodall of Richmond. “Taking public dollars away from our rural schools is a grave threat to our communities.”

Concerns about the constitutionality of the proposed measure remain. Sen. Alfond added that there have been four cases where the Maine Supreme Court ruled that using public money to fund religious schools is not consistent with state law.

The following Republicans voted in favor of using taxpayer money to fund private, religious schools: Sens. Mason, Martin, Thomas, Courtney, Snowe-Mello, Plowman, Thibodeau, and Whittemore.

The measure will go back to the House for additional votes.