AUGUSTA – Maine has slipped in its position in a national study aimed at identifying states that best meet all the criteria – known as the Camelot index – of a good place to live, work and raise a family.

Maine dropped from a three-way tie for 10th best in the country in 2002 to 17th in 2003. Both Maine and Connecticut dropped from the top 10 states and for similar reasons.

“Both states saw a drop in their overall ranking because of worsening performance in the healthy economy and education components in particular,” the index authors at State Policy Reports, a Washington-based newsletter, wrote last month.

The newsletter is published by Federal Funds Information for the States, an organization created by the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“This is certainly one of the better measures,” Kit St. John, executive director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy, said recently about the Camelot index. “It looks at a very wide range of variables and is quite similar to the [Maine] Economic Growth Council measures of growth.”

The ranking measures a total of 26 variables in six key areas. The authors of the index identify a Camelot-like state as having a healthy economy with job opportunities, healthy people, low crime rates, a well-educated population, small classes for public elementary and secondary schools, and affordable public colleges.

That state also will have a prudently managed state government and residents who vote and participate in government.

In Arthurian legend, Camelot is the fabled ideal town where King Arthur held his court and the Round Table.

“Our negative policies on taxation and regulation and the burdens that we place on our businesses have finally caught up with us,” Bill Becker, executive director of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, said recently. “It’s probably the natural resources of our state and the perks that we consider to be a part of living in Maine that have kept us in the top 25 all these years.”

Becker agreed with St. John that the report measures enough variables to draw good comparisons among the states.

He is convinced the principal issue causing the drop in Maine’s ranking is state policies that have resulted in one of the highest tax burdens in the country.

“This is yet another wake-up call for the governor and the Maine Legislature to fundamentally reform the way they do business,” he said. “We are not even on the radar screen of businesses out of state that are looking to relocate.”

Economic Development Commissioner Jack Cashman disagrees with Becker, but he does not disagree with the study.

He said it reflects what was happening last year, before initiatives such as the Pine Tree Zones legislation was implemented.

“If you look at the studies, and the black marks that we get, you will see that the initiatives this administration has made are aimed at addressing them,” he said recently.

For example, he said, Gov. John Baldacci has not supported any new tax increases, and that was a key to preventing a tax hike this session. The Dirigo Health Plan was passed to address the problem of affordable health care, and education programs are being refashioned to meet the needs of business.

“Where we have gotten low marks, on this and other studies, we have moved to address those issues,” he said.

St. John said even though Maine dropped in the new rating, that should not overshadow the fact the state is still ranked among the top 20 desirable states. He said there are a lot of positive indicators in the study, from a low crime rate to good numbers for the health of the population.

Maine does very well on some of the variables, for example ranking sixth best in the country on the crime-free component. It also ranked No. 12 on the healthy society components of the index.

Maine also did well in the educated population index, ranking 15th in the country. That index measures test scores, cost of higher education, student-teacher ratios and drop-out rates.

The state’s worst rankings were for the healthy economy and for the prudent government management components. The economy ranking measured such things as poverty levels and wages in the retail sector, along with five other measures. The state ranked 31st in the nation in that category.

Maine’s poorest showing was in the government management category. It measures such categories as tax burden, debt and unfunded pension liabilities. The state was 42nd in that category.

“I am still trying to figure out why we dropped seven places,” St. John said. “It may be that other states have improved more than we have.”

Becker said he is convinced the state needs to look to the tax burden and debt categories for the answer. He said taxes need to be lowered and spending reduced.

Cashman said he has found this and other rankings do have an impact on his efforts to attract new businesses to the state, but only when Maine is near either the top or bottom of a category.

“If we are in the middle somewhere, they don’t have much impact,” he said.