Invest in education

To the editor:
    As a candidate for the Maine Senate in District 34, I believe Maine education must be supported, fully funded, and improved at all levels, preK through graduate level. The tradition of public schools for all children has been a major driver of economic progress. The GI Bill that brought publicly funded higher education to veterans at the close of World War II led the longest and strongest period of economic prosperity in U.S. history.
    Public funds should pay for public schools. I oppose efforts such as voucher systems or charter schools if they divert public funds into private schools. I also believe Maine needs to avoid the pitfalls of the student-loan program when they essentially subsidize private for-profit colleges with tax-payer money.
    Teachers are the most important asset of our schools. We should be enacting legislation and policies that will allow Maine to compete with other states for the best teachers available. Maine was 44th in the nation in average teacher salaries in 2010, down from 35th in 2007.
    Restrictions in the collective bargaining law mean that teachers, those with the most intimate understanding of student needs, no longer have a say in educational policy. The erosion of teacher-retirement pensions and benefits in recent legislation also discourages the best and brightest teachers to stay in or come to our state. Many teachers have told me they feel like their pensions have been raided. One retired teacher said “I feel like I have been robbed, and I want what was promised to me restored.” I support competitive teacher salaries, collective bargaining of educational policy, and restoration of retirement benefits to teachers, and to all retired public employees for that matter.
    Maine can do better. In some cases it is doing better. With a background in the lumber business, I have been very gratified to witness the improvements our own NMCC has made in its curriculum to better meet the needs of business and to give students a greater variety of career choices. Paramedics, emergency medical technicians, nurses, class 1 tractor/trailer operators, electricians, carpenters, machinists, and many others are all well prepared to go to work the day they graduate. I will support legislation that will allow such improvements in all of our schools.
    Education is the most valuable investment we can make in the future of our economy.
Dan Levesque
Ashland