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House GOP Leaders: ‘Poison Pill Amendment’ Could Cost State $235 Million

AUGUSTA – House Republican leaders said today that Democratic maneuvers on education bills could cost Maine $160 million in future federal education funding while simultaneously knocking the state out of the Race to the Top education reform competition, potentially costing Maine another $75 million.

“Democratic votes on critical education bills this week have jeopardized some $235 million, at a time when the state confronts radical cuts in the next budget,” said Rep. Josh Tardy (R-Newport), leader of the House Republicans. “It is unfathomable why they would act so irresponsibly when we are in such dire circumstances. It seems that they took their marching orders from the Maine Education Association, to the great detriment of Maine taxpayers and education reformers.”

Rep. Sawin Millett (R-Waterford), a former state education commissioner and the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, said the Democrats inserted a “poison pill amendment” to LD 1799, which passed the House and Senate on April 7.

That bill, one of three new education reform measures from the governor, would have required using student assessment data in determining performance evaluations for teachers and principals. Under education initiatives advanced by the Obama Administration, the linkage of student achievement to teacher evaluations is a critical qualification in federal funding decisions.

“The Democrats’ amendment to LD 1799 virtually wipes out local control when it comes to teacher evaluations,” said Rep. Millett. “It puts the Department of Education in charge of setting up an evaluation system that must be approved by so-called stakeholders, which would presumably be the union and the education bureaucracies. Deputy Attorney General Linda Pistner weighed into the debate on April 7 with a letter to leadership, warning that the amendment could lead to statutory barriers to linking student assessment and teacher evaluations. Democratic leaders brushed that aside and said the next Legislature could fix any problems.

“If nothing else,” he added, “this amendment by Senator Justin Alford [D-Cumberland] violates the spirit of the original bill and puts at risk a great deal of money that we badly need.”

Rep. Tardy called on Governor Baldacci to veto the bill or send it back to the Legislature for corrective action.

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