Dear Editor:

Members of the Lincoln County Republican Committee, and your readers were recently treated  to a fire hose of misinformation about Maine public schools via Republican State Representative Heidi Sampson. At the meeting, as reported in a release to the Register, she said Maine public education was ranked last in the country. Total untruth. 

First, while there is actually no comprehensive way to measure what public schools are the best in the nation, a few surveys look at data, including high school graduation rates and college readiness, to determine which states have the best schools. One group Wallethub, using such data, ranks Maine 7th in the nation. U.S. News and World Report ranks Maine 39th using such data. So, it’s hard to say exactly where our schools stand. But not last. The truth is, kids are not, as she says, failing in all their basic subjects. Schools are not fixated on gender issues as she says. Our kids are not, as she says, unhappy, frightened and confused.

The right wing of the political spectrum, increasingly represented by a larger and larger fraction of the Republican party seems intent on destroying the reputation of public schools in this country and in this state. Representative Sampson’s remarks are an example of that. If you want to get a better sense of what happens in our public schools, visit them, talk to the staff, attend school committee meetings. Don’t listen to those whose agenda is to destroy our public schools. 

Bruce MacDonald 

Member of the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor CSD School Committee