The people of Maine have learned recently that the governor and Dr. Dora Mills, the director for Maine’s Bureau of Health, have refused a lot of federal money – some $161,000 for this coming fiscal year and a total of about $660,000 over four years. I have been asked why I reacted so strongly to this news. I welcome the opportunity to explain. The reasoning for refusing the money is hard to follow, but it boils down to the fact that the federal money is offered to states for abstinence education, and the Governor’s Office and the Bureau of Health apparently don’t want to be telling children that sexual “relations” should be reserved for marriage. But there is more to this story. Some of the details being left out reveal a lot of what is wrong with Maine state government. It also explains why I am upset about yet another example of poor management of state resources.

The money comes with certain stipulations, which in my mind seems reasonable. Maine has a disturbing habit of taking federal money and using the money for special interest programs often unrelated to the original intent. If you think that sounds dishonest, then you understand exactly what is being done.

One could check the original funding source for Dirigo Health as an example, but that is for another discussion. Maine has been taking and spending the Title V money intended for abstinence education since 1998, when the Clinton Administration created the funding and established the qualifying criteria. (See Section 510, Title V of the Social Security Act, P.L. 104-193)

According to Dora Mills, the federal government is just now beginning to enforce the criteria, after allowing Maine to accept the money for six years without regard to its intended purpose. Despite all the talk about government accountability, apparently that should only apply to the “other guys”. So, we have been taking the money, but now that someone is checking to be sure we use it according to the terms of the agreement, we will refuse it.

The timing of the announcement has all the elements of a good mystery novel. Was it coincidence that it came just days after Dora Mills came out strongly opposed to groups making character-based abstinence education available to schools at no cost, calling them “harmful to our youth” in the pages of this paper on Sept. 21? Sadly, this is no novel. This is real life, and the future of our children hangs in the balance on the plot line.

While we are just now hearing about the Baldacci administration’s decision to reject the money, it is not a recent one. The deadline to apply for the Title V funds was last March 31. That raises a question as to why we are just now hearing about it, but again, there is more to the story.

The decision was made to refuse federal grant money to continue a good program already in place without consulting or notifying the legislative oversight committee. It should be noted here that SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States) announced the news in their national 2005 Policy Update, published last April. Did Baldacci deem it more important to inform SIECUS than to inform the legislature? Or is SIECUS writing public policy for the state of Maine? Either possibility raises questions about how this administration develops public policy.

The federal grant requires matching funds. It is my understanding that the governor budgeted about $120,000 for these matching funds. If so, I would love to know why. The decision had already been made to refuse the grant. I’d like to know if that $120,000 in state funds is being used somewhere else by the Bureau of Health. The administration knows that in Maine there is at least one non-profit organization that has already been certified to operate under Title V that has professionally trained and certified personnel and a proven curriculum to get the job done, as well as an ability to provide the matching funds. The State would not have to change anything currently being taught in Maine schools, but students would be getting an additional emphasis on abstinence.

Of course, that would mean letting the private sector help out where government is failing miserably. It would also mean that the Maine Department of Education would have to stop setting up roadblocks to stifle the same organization and the same program. (That is an additional discussion that needs to occur.) The salient point here is that the Bureau of Health can legally and efficiently direct the funds to a private sector organization that would provide matching funds and good abstinence education. Meanwhile the BOH would be free to continue their own program while allowing Maine families to get some help promoting traditional values. I hope it’s not too late for that to happen now.

State Sen. Debra D. Plowman of Hampden represents Senate District 33.