ROCKPORT — The head of one of Maine’s biggest companies challenged business leaders Thursday to “stop bashing educators,” and instead to work with them to improve schools in the state.

And James F. Orr III, chairman and chief executive officer of the Portland-based UNUM insurance company, backed his words with money.

UNUM has pledged $1.6 million over the next five years to support three programs designed to strengthen education systems in Maine.

The insurance executive spoke at the opening meeting of a two-day symposium on rethinking education for Maine’s children. Held at the Samoset Resort Inn, the conference was sponsored by the Maine Development Foundation.

Orr said that critics of education systems were numerous, “but few critics are trying to find solutions.”

According to Orr, 1 million young people drop out of school in the United States each year. He said Maine had a better record than the national average, but that one-third of the state’s population was functionally illiterate.

Failures in school have a big impact on the business community, Orr said. UNUM has about 3,000 employees in Portland and about 75 percent of them were educated in Cumberland County. The county’s schools were adequate for college-bound students, Orr said, but the others lagged far behind.

“It is difficult for us to find the skills we need,” Orr said. He cited mathematics and communication skills as important for future workers, but most important, he said, was the ability to learn.

Lack of adequately trained employees costs U.S. companies $25 billion a year in lost productivity, Orr said. In the increasingly global marketplace, the United States needs the best workers the world has to offer, he said.

Orr called businesses consumers of the educational system.

“We’re obliged to make our challenges and needs known as consumers,” he said. “For the most part, businesses are on the outside looking in and not part of the solution.”

Orr used the occasion of his Rockport speech to announce $1.6 million in grants to the University of Maine System, the Maine Aspirations Foundation, and the Portland School System.

The University of Maine System’s “Pride and Promise” capital campaign was awarded $1.1 million over five years. The College of Education at the University of Southern Maine will use the money to fund activities of the Southern Maine Partnership educational consortium.

This partnership is made up of 15 school districts in southern Maine that evaluate the structure of their education systems and test new forms of education practice. In addition to the financial award, UNUM will act as an adviser and technical resource to help the program achieve its goals.

The UNUM grant also will support the USM College of Education as it works with the partnership to implement its new teacher education program.

UNUM will give $440,000 to the Maine Aspirations Foundation in a five-year grant to support initiatives that raise the personal, career and academic goals of Maine school children through partnerships between businesses, community groups and schools. There are 26 such partnerships operating in the state.

The third of the UNUM grants announced Thursday will send $60,500 to the Portland school system over a two-year period. Funds will be used for the Portland Partnership program, which works to increase parental and community involvement in Portland public schools. UNUM also will support the program with volunteer participation.