Gov. John Baldacci’s school consolidation plan is a good first step; now apply that same concept to cutting the size of our state Legislature in half.

It’s no secret why we are the most taxed state in the nation: We Mainers always want what we can’t afford. We vote for every bond issue thinking it’s free money with someone else paying the tab; we think federal matching funds and grants magically appear from a secret place from away, and we think local control is the holy grail of education and all government. But mostly, we desperately fear anything new, so we insist on keeping everything the way it used to be. Think: wind-generated electricity, wilderness development or TABOR.

Maine’s administrative costs are twice what other states pay for a reason. With declining student enrollments, it’s also worth mentioning our senior population bankrolling our bloated education costs with their Social Security checks. When seniors went to school, it was the “Three R’s,” not laptops, grief counselors and social engineering. And try to talk to residents of SAD 48 about local control. They voted down their school budget multiple times at the polls, only to have it force-fed to them anyway by their esteemed local educators. Let’s give the new plan a try.

Jeffrey K. Jacob

Corinna