Why are so many Maine school districts rejecting their budgets?

That was the headline last week in the woke, drain-circling, taxpayer-funded propaganda organ known as the Bangor Daily News. The number of districts where voters rejected school budgets after the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1st more than tripled from five districts last year to at least 16 this year.

To nobody’s surprise, the author and the editors steered clear of any acknowledgement that Maine’s government-funded K-12 indoctrination camps have been in steep academic decline for decades. Nor did these “journalists” explore the possibility that taxpayers might be fed up with funding gender-bender indoctrination that begins in kindergarten in many districts.

How much longer will Maine parents and taxpayers tolerate spending nearly three BILLION dollars a year on schools where barely a third of 5th graders and 8th graders are proficient at grade level in reading and math?

Anyone who’s paying even the slightest attention knows that every year, these institutions crank out thousands of functionally illiterate graduates who are ill-prepared for the job market or responsible citizenship.  Many of these kids know more about — and have greater admiration for — George Floyd than for Joshua Chamberlain, assuming they’ve even heard of Joshua Chamberlain.

One of the “experts” quoted by the BDN is Eric Waddell, the newly installed executive director of the Maine School Management Association, a quasi-governmental, taxpayer-funded, Augusta-based nonprofit that lobbies the Legislature for more funding and less accountability for Maine’s K-12 public schools. Waddel was superintendent of the Kittery School District for 13 years before landing his new job at MSMA.

Waddell’s wisdom:

“I don’t see the costs of running a school going down. In fact, I just see them increasing.”

Really, Eric? Where is all that money supposed to come from? Do you honestly think parents and taxpayers will tolerate more plundering, given that Maine already ranks fifth-highest in the nation for its property tax burden?

And how about this gem?:

“The way we’ve been paying for schools over the past several decades, I’m not sure that’s a model we can continue to sustain.”

Is Waddell hinting at a statewide property tax, such as the one Mary Adams and her Freedom Fighters nuked at the ballot box in the late 1970s? If that’s the case, Waddell and his cohorts had better be careful. The last time the swamp-critters in Augusta tried that, Mary gave them a piece of her mind at the conclusion of her testimony before the Taxation Committee:

“Whatever you do: stay away from the state-mandated property tax, because if you do pass it, you’ll have me on your doorstep. And if I die, my husband has promised to have me stuffed and put in the Hall of Flags to make sure that it never comes back again.”

Mary Adams: Mainers must become tireless Freedom Fighters – The Maine Wire

Revival of statewide property tax considered – The Maine Wire

We owe Mary a debt of gratitude for her vigilance and perseverance.

In the meantime, let’s push back on the transgender supremacy cult that’s become the state religion in Maine’s public schools. The trans cultists, as you know, require everyone else to change their ways, adjust their lives, nod their heads, and give up their rights to privacy to accommodate the demands of mentally ill people who claim to be “transgender” or “nonbinary.”

Enough already!

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, Maine First Project’s legal counsel, John Baldacci, Jr., has provided us with a legal opinion and a model parliamentary motion for school board members to introduce and debate. Passage of the amendment will align the school district with President Trump’s Executive Order signed on February 5th of this year, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

Click HERE to access the proposed motion, which appears on page 8 of the legal opinion.

I would encourage you to contact members of your local school board to make sure they know you have zero tolerance for the gender-bender nonsense that’s the rule rather than the exception in Maine’s K-12 schools. Please feel free to forward them the link above.

Best Regards,

Hon. Lawrence Lockman
Maine House of Representatives, 2012-2020
Co-founder & President
Maine First Project

PS
Check out these accounts of recent victories across the state.

Let’s build on our momentum!

RSU 4: Wales, Sabattus, Litchfield
RSU 4 Becomes Latest School District to Defy Mills and Repeal its Transgender Policy – The Maine Wire

RSU 24: Eastbrook, Franklin, Gouldsboro, Mariaville, Steuben, Sorrento, Sullivan, Waltham, Winter Harbor
Another Maine School District Removes Pro-Trans Policy after Overwhelming Board Vote – The Maine Wire

Other districts have opted to align their policies with President Trump’s Title IX executive order:

RSU 73: Jay, Livermore, Livermore Falls
MSAD 52: Greene, Leeds, Turner
MSAD 70: Amity, Cary Plantation, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Linneus, Ludlow, New Limerick
Even leftist Lewiston has made a feeble attempt to align with Orange Man:
Lewiston schools change Title IX policies to reflect Trump guidelines