WHAT MAINE MUST DO

Thirteen state leaders this week have presented on the Op-ed Page their thoughts about where Maine should be going and how it should get there. They would not all agree on all the answers or even on the assumptions that shape the answers. But a pattern emerges from this range of informed opinion, one that could steer the discussion in Augusta when the Legislature returns in January.

The general goals of a healthy environment, strong schools, an enriching community, the ability to obtain life’s necessities were all agreed on, as was the idea that state government could play an important role in these goals. How it should do that varied by author, but here is a compilation of suggestions that could be taken up by lawmakers:

. When providing job training, emphasize work that increases an employee’s productivity – the value of the product for the amount of work put in. Gov. Angus King mentioned this eight years ago when he said no fish would leave Maine with its head on – that is, unprocessed – but plenty of headed fish leave Maine daily.

. Adjust policies to reward not the heaviest use of Maine’s most valuable attribute, its natural resources, and instead encourage its sustainable and highest economic use.

. Recognize the drain that poor regions have on their inhabitants and the rest of the state, and target more state resources directly at closing the disparity between the well-off and the poor by, for instance, raising the “cost per job” requirement for Community Development Block Grants and state matching funds for economic-development endowments in distressed areas.

. Reduce and restructure state taxes to provide an affordable, stable stream of tax revenue. (See today’s Op-ed Page for a discussion on this by economist Laurie Lachance.)

. Insist on greater cooperation among communities and greater support from the state to let those communities choose their own paths for success.

. Make college a natural assumption for high school graduates and those looking for further training, and make it more affordable.

There remains a large step between many of these ideas and specific legislation, but if lawmakers used these ideas for a template, many of their largest challenges, with the notable exception of health care, would fit within these guides. For instance, higher education would stop its slide as a smaller and smaller portion of the state budget; more startup loans would be available for promising profitable businesses; property taxes would be lowered and a greater share of sales taxes would return to where they were generated.

The reasons these ideas are important are well known: Young people are leaving for more promising opportunities, population growth for most of the state was flat or fell throughout the last decade, manufacturing is departing, often overseas, and even a sharply increasing state budget cannot keep

up with all the requests placed on it. There’s no need to go far into the future to see that the current path leads to failure for most of the state.

The report cited throughout the week, “No Place to Hide,” by the Institute for a Strong Maine Economy (www.ismec.org), provides an excellent grounding for lawmakers and other policy-makers looking for a place to begin. But as much as they need information, they need public support that amounts to more than griping about Maine’s high tax burden.

The series attempts to begin a more specific discussion about what Maine must do to change paths and follow a way that brings it greater vitality and happiness. It’s a difficult discussion; one we hope readers will join and enliven.