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Governor LePage: Democrats Fail To Put Students First
January 31, 2013
For Immediate Release: Thursday, Jan. 31
Contact: Adrienne Bennett, Communications Director (207) 287-2531
AUGUSTA ? Governor Paul R. LePage called attention to the supplemental budget recommendation made by the Education Committee to Appropriations on Thursday that would apply the curtailment order to Maine?s two charter schools in their first year of operation.
The point of the curtailment order was to find significant areas where cuts could be made to balance the budget, as required by Maine?s Constitution. The curtailment order did not include cuts to the two charter schools in order to support their first year in operation.
?There is a failure to put our students first in Augusta. It is time Democrats put Maine students and teachers ahead of union interests. The status quo is indefensible,? Gov. LePage stated.
Applying the cuts to the two schools, whose combined student population numbers only 106, indicates a strategy to undermine charter schools through death by a thousand cuts. The opponents of charter schools are attempting to destabilize the fledgling program before these new schools can become fully established.
The Governor added, ?I stand behind the lawmakers who create more opportunities for success for Maine students and teachers.?