Education and Training

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During this pandemic, child care programs and public schools have shown the significant role they play for kids in cities and towns in every corner of our state.

From early education to higher education, our schools play a critical role in the academic success of children, but also provide nutritional, social and emotional support, and allow parents to work, contributing positively to Maine’s economy. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to strengthen the capacity of our education system from cradle to career after the COVID-19 pandemic is contained.

As child care programs, public schools, and higher education classrooms innovate and learn through expanded use of technology, outdoor learning, hybrid models and more, it is imperative that any long-term changes are made through an equity lens to ensure that children and families are not left behind. Our schools must be inclusive environments that are safe and supportive for all students - free of bias and racism and ableism - and in accordance with Maine law guaranteeing equal educational opportunity for all of our young people whoever they are. This can be achieved through several strategies including equity training for educators in race, bias, inclusion, trauma, and resilience. Policies and practices around discipline, expulsion, and other types of school exclusion must be reviewed with equity lenses given the ever-increasing diversity of our families and students. Curriculums can be revised and expanded to ensure teaching and learning of Black history, Native American history, and American history through the lens of people of color.

Public education must include the contributions, stories, figures, struggles and accomplishments of Black citizens in this country and in this State. Maine’s Black History is an important one for this country including having the distinction of being the state to admit the nation’s first Black lawyers into our state bar and having the honor of Black leaders being instrumental to the creation and management of the first Black owned and operated newspaper in America. We need to properly acknowledge this history through our public school curriculum in the same manner we do American History and World History. Similar attention must be focused on all historically and currently marginalized populations as well.

We must ensure that all children in Maine are provided with equal access to educational opportunities. For students with disabilities, this requires the provision of accommodations and supplementary aids and supports that help ensure that access. Many children with disabilities have been significantly negatively impacted by remote learning and withdrawal of services due to the pandemic. Learning loss and academic and social regression have been drastic. As we rebuild, we must prioritize best practices around inclusive educational opportunities for students with disabilities because all students learn better when they learn together.

Public schools are now finding new and creative ways to teach children while protecting peoples’ health and safety. Teachers and educators must have a voice in the decisions that impact their classrooms and a seat at the table with any decisions made that impact students. A surge of resources for the education sector would improve schools in poorly performing areas and address inequities in our schools allowing for smaller class sizes and adequate resources across the board. Laptops, broadband, and other learning resources and tools need to be available to every student throughout the state. The pandemic has demonstrated that our schools need more state funding to meet the needs of students; the more we are forced to rely on property taxes to fund education, the more unequal our school systems will become.

As we look to shrink disparities among students, we need to invest in proven programs like Head Start and EduCare that help set kids up for success in school and support their parents at the same time. Pre-K should be universally available.

Some of the greatest challenges and economic disparities exist in early care and education. We don’t finance it as a public good, and the burden of funding the system falls on parents. High quality family child care programs and child care centers, including Head Start, not only allow parents to work, they also provide effective early learning, nurturing care for children, and access to services for young families. Unfortunately, access and quality are not consistent across the state and child care is not affordable for many families. And children with disabilities who may need early intervention the most, often have difficulty accessing necessary services. We need to invest in the early childhood workforce, ensuring career pathways through apprenticeships, scholarships for higher education, and wage support to work towards compensation parity with their public school peers. We need to finance an early care and education system, so that all young children and families in Maine have a strong start.

Higher education must also be accessible and affordable – student loan debt has taken over peoples’ futures limiting their options well into adulthood. This is unsustainable; every student - regardless of immigration status, race, ethnicity, criminal background, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, or background - should have access to a quality, publicly funded higher education. The state must step up to provide more state aid for public higher education. In addition, increasing the education and training of the working-age population (whether it’s a two-year degree, a trade certification, or a four-year college degree) is not only essential for the future of Maine’s economy, but also for the development and expansion of Maine’s workforce.

We must do more to create career pathways for Mainers who are trying to get ahead, including Mainers who are immigrants who come here with experience and skills they want to put to good use.