Sen. Carpenter receives perfect score on education record

AUGUSTA — Sen. Mike Carpenter, D-Houlton, earned a 100 percent rating from the Maine Education Association for his voting record on education issues during the second regular session of the 128th Legislature.

“From my time as a student in a one-room schoolhouse in Hammond to my tenure in law school, I have seen the impact teachers can have on students,” said Sen. Carpenter. “I am proud of my record and thank the dedicated teachers for their work in Aroostook County and throughout the state.”

The Maine Education Association is an organization representing 24,000 Maine teachers and is dedicated to supporting policies and laws to improve public education.

This year, Sen. Carpenter supported two successful bills to protect the health and safety of school children. The first bill, LD 1710, restored state funding for school-based health centers, which the Department of Health and Human Services unexpectedly cut last summer.  The second bill, LD 1858, makes technical changes to the School Revolving Renovation Fund to prioritize essential upgrades for school security systems. Both these bills provide Maine schools with the resources necessary to best meet the needs of their students from funding school safety upgrades to proper physical and mental health care.

Another bill still awaiting passage in the Legislature is LD 1689 — a bill that revokes a provision of the biennial budget that punishes school districts if they don’t regionalize administrative services, particularly hurting small rural schools.

Sen. Carpenter is serving his first term in the Legislature representing Senate District 2, which includes central and southern Aroostook County and parts of northern Penobscot County. Carpenter previously served in the Legislature in the in 1970’s and 1980’s and as Maine’s Attorney General from 1991 to 1995.

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