$350,000 donation by MEA to back education funds plan

AUGUSTA – Maine Education Association President Rob Walker acknowledged Wednesday the state teachers organization, drawing on a grant from the National Education Association, will put up $350,000 to win passage of a ballot proposal to require the state to pay 55 percent of local school costs.

The MEA publicly announced its support for the citizen initiative to boost state aid to local schools Wednesday, but that hardly classified as news.

The teachers organization, representing more than 25,000 Maine educators, had been listed as a supporter of the referendum petition drive on Jan. 17, when signatures were delivered to the Secretary of State’s Office.

And even a week before that, a summary of campaign finance records shows, the MEA had contributed $2,500 to the political action committee organizing the initiative, which is known as Citizens to Reduce Local Property Taxes Statewide.

Walker suggested that the timing of the MEA’s declaration of support for Question 1A on Wednesday was routine.

“We hadn’t made any public announcement,” he said.

Through July 15, the statewide citizens’ PAC reported total receipts of $217,443.41 – most from the Maine Municipal Association, according to a compilation done by the state ethics commission office. In promoting passage of the citizen initiative to date, the MMA has emphasized the measure’s potential for curbing local property taxes by channeling more state money to the local level.

“We’re not ignoring that,” Walker said Wednesday, but added that the emphasis of the teachers organization is on “educational funding.”

In the MEA news release Wednesday, Walker encapsulated the education side of the initiative backers’ argument: “Despite repeated promises of 55 percent state aid dating back to 1985, the state’s share of K-12 school funding declined from 51 percent in 1991 to 42 percent for 2003.”

Maine voters face a second school funding proposal in November.

Question 1B, which was overwhelmingly approved last month by the Legislature, offers a broadly rewritten version of Gov. John Baldacci’s plan to phase in a major increase of state aid for local schools in hopes of curbing municipal property taxes.