I come from a family of teachers, and teachers know what others don’t. They also know Democrats have disserved them and treated them badly. We can all do better.
Nationally, and in places like Maine, an unholy alliance exists between unaccountable legislators, governors, and teachers’ unions. It has got to stop. Take one state example.
Maine’s educational system is in disarray, with enrollment falling, courses cut, teacher pay at the bottom, outcomes near worst in the nation, and highly paid unions in collusion with Democrat legislators less interested in kids and teachers than their union donations. None of that helps America – or Maine.
Brace yourself for 10 infuriating facts – for this state, then project them nationally.
Fact One: One-party Democrat rule kills and creates a monopoly. Maine’s Democrats have controlled the governorship and one legislative chamber since 2013. They have held all three – Governor, Senate, and House – since 2019, and had one-party control for 32 of 34 years. They own the bad outcomes.
Fact Two: Under Democrat one-party control since 2019, Maine’s educational performance has plummeted. From 19th best in 2019, Maine is now 43rd and sinking.
Fact Three: Maine’s public schools are ranked worst in the country by US News and World Report. They have never been ranked so low in the State’s history.
Fact Four: In parallel with plummeting outcomes, the primary tax for education is the property tax. Ironically, Maine’s property taxes are among the harshest per capita, 47th worst, and in 2023 changed more negatively than any state.
Fact Five: Maine’s income is 45th in the nation, so we bring home less – after taxes – than all but five states. Beyond tax policies running employers away and robbing kids of opportunities, Maine sports the worst inheritance tax (50th), the 49th worst marginal personal income tax, and the 42nd worst marginal corporate income tax.
In short, Maine suffers a Democrat-driven “negative feedback loop” – low and declining educational performance in a state with high taxes, which chases employers out, pushes the young out, shrinks the tax base, elevates per capita burdens, and hurts education.
Fact Six: Maine’s teachers are objectively dissed by Maine’s teachers’ unions, who contribute their money to Democrat candidates, who do nothing for teachers or kids, but keep the gravy train for themselves. Despite happy talk, the Democrat legislature and unions have left Maine teachers among the worst-paid in the nation.
A 2022 study found Maine’s teachers are rewarded eighth worst America. With a mother who was a teacher, started at $12,000 a year, worked to raise four kids, up at five a.m., grading papers to midnight, unions did her little good.
Maine teachers are paid 14.3 percent less than private sector workers, despite their extra hours. Just ask yourself, wherever you live, to whom do we owe more than teachers?
Fact Seven: Incredibly, Maine’s Democrats took away a teacher’s right to Social Security along with their low pension. Only 12 states punish teachers that way, not contributing to Social Security, and so disallowing teachers from collecting Social Security, is another disgrace.
Think about it. Do these Democrats in the legislature care about teachers? They get their Social Security unless they were teachers. Patently inexcusable.
Fact Eight: Want a shock? Maine’s teacher’s unions help themselves before Maine kids or teachers – who need better pay, pensions, and support for educating Maine kids to keep them here.
A quick look at a recent teachers’ union tax return: Top nine Maine union staff make: (1) $276,683, (2) $239,251, (3) $220,471, (4) $236,925, (5) $219,185, (6) $203,825, (7) 199,042, (8) $193,902, (9) $181,148.
The average Maine teacher closest town to me does not make $40,000. For the money that union sucks down for eight staff, Maine could hire 50 new teachers, but no, “nothing to see here.”
Fact Nine: While Maine teachers pay dues to support those salaries, it is worse. The unions – like their national affiliates, the National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT), are Democrat funding machines. Nationally, the NEA and AFT gave $43 million annually to Democrat causes, like “House Majority Political Action Committee, “fighting for a Democrat Majority in the House.”
The real irony? This twisted system gives money to the same state Democrat legislators who do not care about Maine’s kids or teachers, and just keep collecting money from the unions to win their political races. Show me a candidate who says “I will not take teachers’ unions money,” and I will show you an honest candidate.
So, what have we? A self-licking ice cream cone, another corrupt legislature – and Congress. Maine’s teachers are badly served by Democrats, who take their money, make gobs, and do little.
An idea: If we believe in our kids, maybe it is time to flip those legislatures, restore the US House and Senate, and start working for kids and teachers, not making them put up with corruption. Those who measurably hurt America – and Maine – should be booted. Kids and teachers deserve better.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
