Education

PORTLAND , Maine – Independent candidate for governor Eliot Cutler today announced the support of 50 leading educators and school board members from around Maine as he continued to link his comprehensive education reform policy paper, No Excuses: Reforming and Improving Public Education in Maine, to jobs and opportunities for Maine’s young people.

“Just eight years from now, nearly 60% of Maine jobs will require training and formal education beyond high school, and over 40% of those will require either a two- or four-year degree,” Cutler said. “Too many young adults still graduate from Maine high schools without the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the workforce or college. The next governor has to make education reform a top priority or our children – and our state – are going to be left behind in an increasingly competitive economy.”

Cutler said that there are 400,000 people under the age of 25 living in Maine. “Our young people represent the greatest resource for the future prosperity of our state,” Cutler said, “but we first have to keep them in Maine, equip them with the skills to replace our rapidly aging workforce, and employ them in the new jobs that our competitive, global economy demands.”

Cutler said the greatest threat to education reform in Maine is the “unholy alliance” between the leaders of the state teachers’ union, the Maine Education Association, and leaders of the Democratic Party.

“Our school systems and our teachers were fitted for straightjackets by the union, and Libby Mitchell and the Democratic Party leadership zipped them up,” Cutler said. “For too long we have been paying too much for too little. While our enrollments have been going down, our costs have been going up. Student performance is lagging. Yet, year after year the teachers union and Libby Mitchell have teamed up to protect the status quo and put politics before pupils. That’s not serving our children, our parents, Maine taxpayers or the dedicated teachers in our schools.”

“We need to throw open the windows and doors of our schools and embrace reform and innovation,”

Cutler added.

“Maine students need more opportunity than our systems currently provide,” said Richard Barnes, Professor Emeritus and former Dean of Education and Human Development at the University of Southern Maine. “Eliot has set out a detailed plan that will improve Maine’s public education system through an innovative, pro-active approach that, quite frankly, none of the other candidates have even come close to.”

Cutler’s education proposals are guided by five principles:

1. All children should have access to quality programs that advance their development and readiness for school.
2. Parents, children and educators must share responsibility for academic success.
3. Bureaucratic and political walls and policies that protect mediocrity and keep out innovation must be eliminated.
4. When educators and teams of educators demonstrate gains and growth in student performance, they should be recognized and rewarded.
5. All Mainers, no matter where they live, should have lifelong access to the knowledge and skills they need for success in college and workforce training.

Cutler’s plan begins with an emphasis on screening and early childhood education, putting the focus on readiness for school and preventing problems, rather than trying to fix them later. In addition, he would allow public charter schools and districts as a way to foster innovation and would create additional magnet schools like the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone.

Another key element of Cutler’s No Excuses plan is to reward good teachers with higher pay, instead of basing compensation on seniority with no distinction permitted between those who teach effectively and those who do not. He would recognize and reward teachers, teams and schools that improve student progress, something that it is not currently allowed under the union contract.

Cutler also supports a longer school day and a longer school year. At 175 days, Maine has one of the shortest school calendars in the country, with five fewer days than the national average. Cutler’s plan also commits to a strong new partnership between high schools, community colleges and industries to reinvigorate skills training and create a new generation of workers to replace a skilled workforce is nearing retirement age.

In post-secondary education, Cutler calls for greater collaboration between the community colleges and university systems, calling for the merger of the administration of the two systems, as well as a better connection between adult education and job force development programs.

“We can’t wait any longer for real education reform in Maine,” said Jean Gulliver, former chair of the state Board of Education. “Eliot Cutler has put forth a smart, detailed plan, and he is the only candidate with the courage and independence to open up our education system to greater innovation, efficiency and effectiveness.”

“I’m proud to have the support of so many prominent educators and community leaders who agree with me that Maine taxpayers deserve better value for their education dollars and that quality education is the only way to ensure that every Maine child has an equal opportunity to succeed,” Cutler said.

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Educators for Cutler

Tenney Augur
Portland, ME
Retired language teacher; taught in the Cape Elizabeth and Portland Public School Systems for approximately 20 years; former representative from Portland High School to the Portland Teachers Association

Richard Barnes
Kennebunkport, ME
Professor Emeritus and former Dean of Education and Human Development, University of Southern Maine

Eve Bither
Westbrook, ME
Former Commissioner of Education, former Superintendent of Freeport school systems, former Assistant principal for Portland High School, former physics teacher

Weston (Wes) Bonney
Portland, ME
Former State Board of Education Member, founding Member of Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education, Trustee Emeritus of Bates College, Member of the Board of Visitors of the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service

Janice Bridgeo
Augusta, ME
Second Grade Teacher, Winthrop

Tony Brinkley
Bangor, ME
Professor of English, Senior Faculty Associate at the University of Maine’s Franco-American Centre

Susan Campbell
Portland, ME
Executive Director of Advising and Academic Resources, University of Southern Maine

Gail Rae Carter
Portland, ME
Former High School History Teacher

Beppie Cerf
Falmouth, ME
Former Chair, Falmouth School Board

Morgan Cuthbert
Freeport, ME
Teacher, Yarmouth School District

Bill Dill
Portland, ME
Trustee and former interim president, Maine College of Art
President emeritus, Babson College
Former dean, School of Business, New York University

Shannon Emery
Eastport, ME
School Board Member, Eastport

Dr. Sandy Ervin
Holden, ME
38 years in public education and former Superintendent of Bangor

Matthew Fadiman
Kennebunk, ME
School Board Member, RSU 21

Bill Foster
Phippsburg, ME
Former Dean of the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University

Polly Haight Frawley
North Yarmouth, ME
Former chair of school board, SAD 51, Cumberland, North Yarmouth

Connie Goldman
Cape Elizabeth, ME
Former state representative on education committee and former Cape Elizabeth and Gorham Superintendent

Mark Googins
Cumberland, ME
Member of the Cheverus High School Board of Trustees

Florine Gorsky
Kennebunk, ME
Former pre-school teacher

Skip Greenlaw
Stonington, ME
School Board Member, Deer Isle-Stonington Community School District

Dick Gould
Greenville, ME
School Board Chair, Greenville

Jean Gulliver
Falmouth, ME
Former Chair and Member of the State Board of Education

Anja Hanson
Portland, ME
Adult Education

Norm Higgins
Dover-Foxcroft, ME
Former Superintendent in SAD #4/Guilford, former teacher and Principal at Piscataquis
Community High School, Project Manager for School Administrative Reorganization

Tim Hussey
Kennebunk, ME
School Board Vice Chair, RSU 21

Bob Ivano
Sedgwick, ME
Mathematics Instructor

Jennifer Jacobson
Cumberland, ME
Education Consultant, Author of Educational and Children’s Books, and former Elementary School Teacher

Kim Kenway
Portland, ME
Hebron Academy Board of Trustees

Beth Kilbreth
Portland, ME
Professor, Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service

Daniel Lee, Ed.d.
Bangor, ME
Superintendent, Brewer; Board of Directors, Jobs for Maine Graduates

David Mahan
Old Town, ME
Assistant Director for Operations of the Recreation Center, University of Maine

Susan Maxwell, OTR/L
South Portland, ME
Special Services Provider

Annie McCluskey
Orono, ME
Teacher, Old Town

Tim McCluskey
Orono, ME
Principal, Vine St. School, Bangor

Jamie Michaud
Cumberland, ME
8th grade English Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher, Cape Elizabeth Middle School

Chris Moore
Portland, ME
Physics Teacher, Falmouth High School

Margaret R. Muir (Peggy Muir)
Freeport, ME
Retired Teacher, Freeport High School

Kevin Murray
Gray, ME
Special Education Teacher, Casco Bay High School

Carol Nalli
Cumberland, ME
Teacher’s Aide, Greely School Systems

Gino Nalli
Cumberland, ME
Professor, Muskie School

Linda Nelson
Stonington, ME
Executive Director, Opera House Arts at the Stonington Opera House

Clare Hudson Payne
Holden, ME
Adjunct Faculty, New England School of Communications

Heather Perry
Unity, ME
Superintendent, RSU 3

Sandra Pye
Wiscasset, ME
Teacher, Wiscasset Elementary School

Marcy Plavin
Lewiston, ME
Dance, Lecturer Emerita, Bates College

Dr. Bill Richards
Cumberland, ME
Former Superintendent of Scarborough School System, SAD 51 Board of Directors

Dr. Mary Richards
Cumberland, ME
Retired State Department of Education Director, former Chief Educational Officer for Learning Effects, former Director of Certification (Maine Department of Education)

Paul Saucier
Brunswick, ME
Director, Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy, University of Southern Maine

Dr. Mark Schwartz
South Portland, ME
Adjunct Professor, SMCC

Dr. Rachel Schwartz
South Portland, ME
Former Professor

William Shuttleworth
Bath, ME
Superintendent, RSU 01

Leo Trudel, Sr.
Fort Kent, ME
Associate professor of business, University of Maine at Fort Kent

Julie Tselikis
Cape Elizabeth, ME
Retired school nurse of 35 years, Cape Elizabeth Middle School

THE CONTEXT

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The world is global, connected and competitive; but Maine students are falling behind. Together, let’s strengthen every school, empower every teacher, and prepare every child for a better future. There are 400,000 people under the age of 25 living in Maine. If we can keep them in Maine and employ them in the new jobs that our competitive, global economy demands, they will become the greatest resource for the future prosperity of our state.

By 2018, nearly 60% of Maine jobs will require training and formal education beyond high school, and over 40% of those will require either a two- or four-year degree, but too many young adults graduate from Maine high schools without the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the workforce or to be college ready. As a consequence, Maine is left with an undereducated workforce that is a poor match for the nation’s burgeoning knowledge economy, and our income levels lag behind all other New England states.

Our elementary and secondary schools fail too many of our students: between two-thirds and one-half of Maine’s elementary and middle students don’t meet national standards in reading and math; Maine recently finished behind New Hampshire and Vermont in both Grades 3-8 reading and Grades 3-8 math; and our average high school graduation rate hovers around 80%.

Moreover, only about one-third of our high student graduates go on to earn a college degree, a rate lower than the U.S. average. Only half of our 8th graders ultimately enroll in college, and of those who do, more than a quarter require at least one remedial course. We are doing many things well, but there are twice as many lower performing and less efficient schools and school districts in Maine than there are higher performing and more efficient schools and districts.

Although Maine’s enrollments declined precipitously during the last decade – hitting rural areas of our state much harder, school expenses continued to rise. Net expenditure per student in Maine is 8% higher than the national average, despite per capita income in Maine being well below the national average; when regional cost differences for salaries are taken into account, Maine has the fifth highest per pupil expenditure rate in the nation. Despite the rising costs, a significant number of our teachers are not well paid. Maine ranks 43rd in the nation in average teachers’ salaries, and we rank last among the New England states.

Maine has the second highest (after Vermont) student-teacher ratio in the nation at 11.3 students for every teacher versus a national average of almost 16:1. The average student-teacher ratio in rural states that currently perform as well or better than Maine is 13.5. The difference between 11.3 and 13.5 amounts to $150 million in higher costs for Maine each year.

It’s time to take a fresh look at education, to insist on reform designed around the needs of students, their families and the community and to get smarter about how we use our resources.

Maine’s system of public education needs strong leadership from the Blaine House. We need a governor with the courage and independence to put kids first, a governor who won’t rest until all Maine children receive a quality education, a governor who will be a champion for innovation. Hardworking Maine taxpayers who want the best for their children need a governor who will end duplication, fragmentation and inefficiency. Maine needs a governor who understands that economic activity, jobs and incomes require an educated and skilled workforce.

We need a No Excuses policy of education reform. When I am governor, we will have it.

THE OBJECTIVES

Mainers have a can-do tradition of working hard to meet high standards. To ensure that all our students have the opportunity to meet world-class standards and to compete in a global economy at a cost we can afford, the Cutler Administration will:

• Make excellence, quality, performance and efficiency our touchstones.
• Innovate, hold educators accountable for student performance and create a culture of expectations and achievement that gives every Maine child a fair shot at success, wherever she or he lives in Maine.
• Ensure access to lifelong learning opportunities for all Mainers.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• All young children should have access to quality programs that advance their development and readiness for school.
• Parents, children and educators must share responsibility for academic success.
• Bureaucratic and political walls that protect mediocrity and keep out innovation must be eliminated.
• When educators and teams of educators demonstrate gains and growth in student performance, they should be recognized and rewarded.
• All Mainers, no matter where they live, should have lifelong access to the knowledge and skills they need for success in college and workforce training.

THE MEANS TO THESE ENDS

1. Early Childhood

If Maine is to achieve our desired outcomes for children, including high school graduation and college degrees or occupational certificates, we must start by improving early childhood education.

School readiness and academic success starts with early childhood education. Consistently, evidence points to early childhood experiences having lasting impacts on later success in life. As a child’s brain grows, the nature and quality of early experience establishes either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all of the development and behavior that follows. Getting things right the first time is easier—and less expensive—than trying to fix them later.

Public investments should focus on prevention, rather than on addressing the problems that arise when a child has adverse early experiences. We have long known that interactions with caregivers are important in a child’s life. When we coo at our babies, when we sing and read to preschoolers, we are building relationships that are the foundation for their future success. The latest research shows us that these relationships actually shape brain circuits and lay the foundation for later developmental outcomes, from academic performance and interpersonal skills to physical and mental health.

I will work to support Maine families in their children’s quest for success. We must improve our efforts to ensure that all children receive appropriate developmental screening and are provided appropriate and necessary services.

As Governor, I will focus my efforts on making sure our youngest students are ready to enter kindergarten with the necessary social-emotional, cognitive and early language and literacy skills for continued success in school. Our benchmark for success at the end of my first term will be to reduce by half the number of children who cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade.

2. Kindergarten through Grade 12

The Cutler Administration will revitalize our public school programs and introduce talented high school students to the excitement of higher education and apprentice programs before they graduate from high school. To those ends, our public school system must embrace public charter and magnet schools, reward performance, smart-size the curriculum, integrate technology, emphasize the role of our schools as community centers and break down the barriers between academic and technical education.

3. Charter Schools

Student achievement should not be a matter of chance, but of design. All of our schools can and must do better. But those children for whom traditional public school is not productive need another option. I will push for the passage of legislation that will permit the charter of innovative, autonomous, small public schools as alternatives to our regular public schools. Charter schools will be held accountable for student learning but not in the traditional ways of governing and operating schools.

Maine must do better than the so-called “Innovative Schools” approach that was supported by the Maine Education Association and enacted by the legislature. This misnamed scheme keeps innovative schools in the same strait jackets that deprive teachers, administrators and parents of the opportunity to think and to act “outside the box.” Across the nation, forty states have created opportunities to form charter schools – free, public schools that operate substantially independently of local school boards and the traditional collective bargaining rules. Maine can learn from these other states’ experiences. Many charter schools are thriving, and many have fostered dramatic innovations in the quality and delivery of cost effective education.

4. Magnet Schools

The Cutler Administration will help communities offer rigorous academic programs structured around students’ individual interests through the creation of new magnet high schools. The Cutler Administration will reach out to our universities and business partners so that magnet schools can inspire meaningful classroom activities and introduce students to the excitement of higher education and apprenticeship programs before they graduate. To help do this we will encourage more flexible use of our university and community college campuses. By way of example, we could establish magnet schools for foreign languages at University of Maine at Fort Kent, for agricultural sciences at University of Maine at Presque Isle, for marine sciences at University of Maine at Machias and for creative arts in Lewiston-Auburn.

5. Performance Rewards

I believe that educators and teams of educators who demonstrate their ability to improve student achievement ought to be rewarded for their efforts. Recognition for growth in student success should not look only to student test scores, nor should rewards be limited to pay. We will ask our teachers and other professional educators to design new ways to reward successful collaboration and support opportunities for school leadership and targeted professional development.

The present compensation system, a simplistic seniority based system that makes no distinction between those who lead and teach effectively and those who do not, is not serving either children or the public well and does not drive school improvement based on teacher collaboration and effective mentoring.

I am a believer in looking at growth and gain and how much a student is improving each year based on a variety of indicators and on the efforts of a variety of educators. Where we can identify student success, we should reward those individual educators, the teams and the schools responsible for accelerating student progress. We need to shine a spotlight on that success, learn from it and replicate it.

Many of Maine’s rural schools need qualified teachers in a wide range of fields. Without doubt, Maine’s over-reliance on a lock-step salary schedule for all teachers hurts our state in efforts to recruit and retain top-level teaching talent. With one-third of our teachers expected to retire in the near future, Maine must consider alternative compensation systems and move beyond a lock-step salary schedule to attract the best and the brightest to our schools.

6. Preservation of Local Community Schools

Few, if any, issues in recent years have proven more divisive and contentious to Maine citizens than the issue of school district consolidation. Especially in our most rural communities, consolidation was viewed as a death warrant for the local community school. In my travels around the state, I have heard over and over again from residents in community after community how important their local school is to the community’s well being and very survival.

As Governor, I will look for opportunities to preserve local community schools, by helping communities collaborate to meet the demands for high quality offerings. Rather than penalize communities on their state subsidies for failure to consolidate school districts, I will create incentives for schools to re-design themselves in cost-effective ways so that they can both improve the educational opportunities for their children and young adults and enhance the central role that the school plays in community life.

In some cases, consolidation may be the best alternative available, both in economic and educational terms. Yet often it is not. Accomplishing change and collaboration will not be easy; it will require effective vision and leadership at the state level to remove legal impediments and to suggest models for promising and innovative practices. Schools suffering from declining enrollments could be turned into high quality schools that are integrated into a network of early childhood programs, parenting classes, vocational and non-traditional academic offerings, health clinics and other social services, all focused on improving educational outcomes for our students and residents alike.

Many schools struggle, especially in rural areas, to provide special programs and teachers to support the full range of students’ educational needs. Due to the high taxpayer burden and continuing declines in enrollment, some vital programs are sacrificed in rural and urban schools alike. We can train teachers to make better use of laptop technology, and we can utilize new technologies that can help schools and communities better share resources efficiently in hard-to-staff courses. We should redesign learning environments without sacrificing the vital contact between the student and a good teacher.

7. Longer School Calendar

At 175 days, Maine currently has one of the shortest school calendars in the nation. Maine requires 5 days less than the national average. Our students cannot catch up or surpass their counterparts in other states with an abbreviated calendar. The short school calendar deprives teachers of both the time for instruction and for professional development they need to help our students get to the top. I will propose to extend the academic calendar in Maine by 10 days.

8. Vocational and Skills Training

Maine’s skilled workforce has an average age of about 50. We are watching one of our true competitive advantages age its way out of existence, and we need to reintroduce skilled technical and vocational education to our young people.

Maine has a statewide network of secondary-level career and technical centers, but most are treated as separate adjuncts to regular high schools. Because of this separation many students cannot readily earn academic credit toward high school graduation while simultaneously beginning to develop technical and career skills. As a result, too many young people are denied the opportunity acquire, in an academic setting, the career skills that will be valued in the workplace.

We need to break down the barriers between academic and technical education at the secondary level, without lowering academic standards. Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School has shown that the artificial separation can be undone. It has created a curriculum that provides a seamless education in both academic and technical programs. More Maine high schools and career and technical centers need to be encouraged to adopt this model.

9. Post-Secondary Opportunities

We can create the kinds of post-secondary educational opportunities and experiences that will make Maine students want to stay here for their education. Our college systems need to work more closely with each other – so that the credits earned by a student who graduates from a community college program will be recognized at one of our four-year universities. We must be confident that every Maine student at any age – whether he or she goes to college or not – will be trained and skilled and in a position to reach his or her maximum potential.

10. Adult Education

Maine’s 98 adult education centers offer a vital link for adult learners. The system provides a bridge between the public schools and advanced training and education at Maine’s community colleges and university campuses, while also teaching the skills required for higher-performing and higher-paid jobs. Adult education in Maine’s cities and towns can make available to displaced workers, new immigrants to Maine, and young adults who have dropped out of school an opportunity to learn the necessary language, literacy and mathematical skills needed to take advantage of technical and college level education opportunities required for higher-performing and higher-paid jobs. However, adult education programs and job force development programs fail to connect in far too many communities throughout the state. As Governor, I will provide the leadership necessary at the state level to maximize the efficient use of education and job training dollars by requiring strong coordination between the Department of Labor, the Department of Education, and a reorganized Higher Education system.

11. Higher Education

Helping Maine to overcome its higher education deficit is one of the most critical tasks facing our state today. The percentage of Mainers age 25 and older earning a bachelors or advanced degree continues to be the lowest in New England, and Maine’s rate of increase is slipping relative to that of our sister states. As our country lags behind the rest of world, Maine is falling behind the rest of our country. The problems with the jobs market and the tax burden in Maine won’t be solved until we repair our higher education system.

Part of our problem is money, but not all of it. Maine’s problems also flow from a balkanized system of public higher education management, one that discourages cooperation and too often serves the narrowest interests. Net expenditures for public higher education are low in Maine in comparison to the rest of the nation, yet Maine has the nation’s second highest non-instructional payroll relative to instructional payroll.

We will merge our university and college systems. Having one governing body for both systems will improve efficiency and planning for the various campuses and reduce unnecessary duplication of programs. Broadband technology exists to accommodate video conferencing and asynchronous distance learning, while “hybrid” courses, using a combination of distance learning technology with face-to-face, real–time contact between student and instructor, often result in more effective instruction than either distance or in-person instruction alone.

More centralized planning and administration will allow community colleges and four-year university campuses to more closely collaborate in sequenced, affordable programs in a variety of specialized programs. At the same time, accessibility to needed courses will be improved, allowing students to make continuing progress toward degree completion. In a new funding environment, campuses will no longer duplicate programs in an effort to expand enrollments, such strategies that too often now result in too few students in programs with too few qualified faculty, with the net result of weakening the entire system.

American education has long been the envy of the world, but with the rising cost of college, higher education is becoming affordable for fewer people. By focusing on greater efficiencies, we can begin to bend the cost curve of higher education and ensure that our university tuition is not a barrier to college attendance and completion.

The Portland Press Herald published an Op-Ed piece by Ron Bancroft on education in Maine. Bancroft discusses how Maine has slipped from its position as a leader in education reform. Bancroft expresses frustration with the lack of innovation from the Department of Education and the MEA as well as the MEA’s dismissal of Maine’s results in the Race to the Top Federal education reform competition. Bancroft continues by writing that Eliot Cutler is the only gubernatorial candidate that has yet to fully address Maine’s education reform needs and poor performance in the Race to the Top.

Independent candidate Eliot Cutler actually responded with a specific program to address the issues raised by Maine’s RTT application… [Cutler] is the one candidate willing to take these issues head-on. Check him out.

You can read the full article here.

Please take a moment to read Derek Viger’s 2 part analysis of my education plan on Pine Tree Politics. In the first part, Derek discusses my plans for early education, the authorization of charter schools and the creation of more magnet schools. In the second part, Derek discusses my plans to reward teacher performance, to extend the school year and the school day and to increase skills and vocational training.

“While you may disagree with him, Eliot Cutler has been open with his various initiatives for Maine. Cutler has released plans on government reform, healthcare, and energy. .. The Cutler campaign has now released a blueprint for education reform in the state. The reform outline consists of boosting pre-school, allowing charter schools, increasing magnet schools, addressing teacher compensation, and the length of Maine’s school days and years.”

You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

In light of Maine’s recent results in the Race to the Top education reform competition, please read or listen to this piece from MPBN. I need your help to ensure that every Maine child has an equal opportunity to succeed.

“We failed in the first round — we didn’t even make the cut off, and in the second round, we were 33rd out of 36 states. We’re not measuring up,” he says.

Cutler says Maine’s approach to K-12 and higher education is in need of reform. [Cutler] is recommending a number of proposals — including some that have been explored before. Among them are plans to lengthen the school year, create charter schools to create new opportunities for high-performing students and — one of the most controversial — merging the community college and university systems…

At the local level, Cutler would would like to see a merit pay system for teachers that would be awarded through a peer review process. He says teachers need to be rewarded for doing a good job and that their work should be able to be measured by their students’ performance.

You can read a transcript of the piece here.

In this video, Matt Gagnon of Pine Tree Politics discusses Maine’s performance in the recent Race to the Top competition, where the state finished 33rd out of 36. Gagnon also discusses Eliot Cutler’s plan to institute needed reform to Maine’s education system.

The Portland Press Herald reports that Eliot Cutler outlined a series of education reforms in a speech to the Waterville Rotary Club yesterday. Cutler’s proposals include charter schools, a longer school year, rewarding teacher performance and merging the university and community college systems. You can read an excerpt below:

Independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler said Monday he would improve education in Maine by lengthening the school year, allowing charter schools, tying teacher pay to student performance and merging the university and community college systems.

Cutler said Maine can no longer afford to have underperforming students.

“We need to reform education in Maine from top to bottom,” he told a Waterville Rotary Club audience.

He said test scores, dropout rates and the state’s poor performance in the federal Race to the Top competition — Maine finished 33rd out of 36 states that applied — highlight the need for major reform.

Part of his plan is to provide services to children before they enter school. He praised Waterville for its new Educare Central Maine facility that focuses on early childhood development and said more of those types of programs are needed across the state.

You can read the full article here.

CONTACT:

TED O’MEARA
ted@cutler2010.com
207.699.4401

WATERVILLE, Maine – Saying student achievement should not be a matter of chance, Independent candidate for governor Eliot Cutler outlined a series of education reforms in a speech to the Waterville Rotary Club this noon. Cutler’s proposals include charter schools, a longer school year, rewarding teacher performance and merging the university and community college systems.

“We need to reform public education in Maine from top to bottom, so that our kids can graduate in Maine, find good-paying jobs in Maine and live in Maine,” Cutler told club members. “We need to kick open the doors, throw open the windows and welcome a fresh wind of innovation and reform. We need a No Excuses policy for education in Maine.”

Cutler offered the following reform initiatives in his speech:

• Provide developmental screening to all pre-school children and services to those who need them. He said the performance benchmark will be the number of children who are reading proficiently at the end of third grade, and that “we will cut our failure rate by more than half by the end of my first term as governor.”
• Allow public charter schools and districts, as 40 other states have done. These are free, public schools that operate substantially free of traditional collective bargaining rules but subject to a negotiated performance contract among students, parents and teachers. “Many charter schools have fostered dramatic innovations in the quality and delivery of cost effective education, and Maine can learn from these experiences,” he said.
• Create more statewide magnet schools that introduce students to the excitement of higher education and apprenticeship programs before they graduate and inspire meaningful careers. “I’ve visited with the students at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone, an exciting learning community that is consistently rated one of the top high schools in the nation,” he said. “Let’s find the resources for magnet schools in foreign languages, agriculture, marine sciences and creative arts.”
• Reward good teacher performance with higher pay, instead of the present system in the State of Maine, where teachers get tenure after two years and lock-step salary increases for 20 years. “Teachers’ compensation is based on seniority, not performance, with no distinction permitted between those who teach effectively and those who do not,” Cutler said. “Let’s start to look at how much a student is improving each year and reward those teachers, teams and schools that are improving student progress.”
• Institute a longer school day and a longer school year. Maine is one of only 8 states in the country that still have a school year of only 175 days. “In China, the school year is 225 days, and our kids will need to compete with Chinese kids and others from around the world,” he said.
• We will recommit ourselves to a strong new partnership between our high schools, community colleges and industries to reinvigorate skills training and create a new generation of legendary Maine workers. “Maine’s skilled and dedicated workers always have been one of our greatest competitive advantages, but the average age of those in our skilled workforce is moving into the early 50s,” Cutler said.
• Make better use of technology, provide more clinical and professional training for teachers and enhance the role of our schools as community centers.

It’s time to put taxpayers, parents and teachers back in charge of education,” Cutler said. It’s time to make what’s right for kids – and not the union contract – the standard by which we judge what we do in our schools.

In terms of higher education, Cutler reiterated his call for a merger of Maine’s university and community college systems. “Let’s have one governing body and one chief executive for both systems. Let’s improve efficiency and reduce the unnecessary duplication of programs,” Cutler said. “A more centralized model will allow both community colleges and four-year university campuses to collaborate to offer sequenced, affordable programs in a variety of specialized programs. “

Cutler closed his remarks on education reform by noting that American education has long been the envy of the world, but with the rising cost of college, higher education is becoming affordable for fewer people. He said focusing on greater coordination, cooperation and operational efficiencies, Maine can begin to bend the cost curve of higher education and ensure that a quality education is within the grasp of every student.

The Kennebec Journal posts an article covering each of the Maine gubernatorial candidate’s views on what to do with the state’s Race to the Top application for education reform, which failed to qualify for federal funding. Here is a quote from Eliot:

“Until we make real changes and really open the system in Maine to reform and innovation,” [Cutler] said, “I think we are going to continue to be also-rans both in terms of competition for Race to the Top funds, but also in the performance of our schools.”

You can read the full article here.