Yesterday, the Maine Education Association (MEA) announced its endorsement of Governor Janet Mills for re-election. In the endorsement, MEA President Grace Leavitt celebrated Governor Mills as a champion for Maine’s public schools, teachers, and students, citing her work to increase the teacher minimum wage to $40,000, provide free meals to all school children, and meet the state’s 55 percent funding obligation for public education. According to Leavitt, “MEA knows with Governor Mills we can expect to continue to make progress to lift up public schools, the students they serve and the people that work in them.”\

The MEA also slammed former Governor Paul LePage—who once called teachers “a dime a dozen”---for his record of fighting teachers and undermining public education: 

“LePage repeatedly tried to cut funding for public schools and higher education. He led the charge in 2011 to drastically reduce pension benefits for current and future retired teachers and ed techs (IIs and IIIs) – these cuts are nearly impossible to undo given Maine’s constitutional constraints…a return to Paul Lepage will mean a return to the years of nonstop vitriol, racist and disrespectful language, and support for policies designed to undermine public schools.”

Read the full MEA endorsement here. You can also read more from the Maine Democratic Party on Paul LePage’s anti-education record here.