Finish Me Right

In their long-weekend bliss before a final week of legislating, lawmakers can curse their extended spring in Augusta. Or they can be grateful that the governor’s threat to veto the budgets of both parties gave them time to find money for a package of programs that had received bipartisan support but lacked funding.

Start Me Right and related programs, a collection that includes tax breaks for child care, scholarships, Cub Care, health-care coverage, Head Start and other services to get children off to a healthy beginning, found broad support in the House and Senate. Even some of their detractors liked the idea of many of the programs, but said Maine simply could not afford them.

At the time, that point was at least debatable. But in the week or so that the threatened vetoes pushed back agreement on the state’s biennial budget, President Bill Clinton signed legislation that made final the deal between the tobacco industry and the states. Maine’s share starting no later than July 2000 in the first year is $63 million; after that, it is $57 million until 2010, when it rises to closer to $70 million. The money is as secure as any other forecasted dollars in the state’s budget — more secure if you think the tobacco industry’s fiscal health is more robust than Maine’s.

The priority for the tobacco money should be health care, and the link between this package of services and the health of Maine’s families is direct and strong. The payback for Maine is equally compelling: A growing body of research demonstrates conclusively, for instance, that every dollar spent on pre-school education produces handsome returns on investment in savings on remedial education, juvenile corrections and prison. Rather than just giving up on a part of Maine’s population, these programs say that everyone can contribute by living up to his or her potential.

It has been a long legislative session, and lawmakers might prefer to think about lazy summer days instead of revisiting the funding question for a program, no matter how popular. But the governor gave them the gift of time to identify a secure funding source for these services. It would be impolite of them to turn it down.