Augusta, Maine - Governor Paul R. LePage signed an executive order today affirming Maine’scommitment to protecting local education control and student privacy rights.
The Governor’s action prohibiting the influence of the federal government into Maine’s education policy comes after parents and educators have raised concerns about the Obama Administration’s attempts to hijack successful state-led education reforms, including more rigorous, relevant standards in mathematics and English language arts Maine voluntarily adopted in common with other states in 2011.
Maine has had statewide accountability standards for eight content areas since 1997. Known as the Maine Learning Results, these standards are periodically updated to align with the evolving expectations of employers and post-secondary institutions, mostly recently in 2011.
While standards set the expectation of what students should know and be able to do as they progress through each K-12 grade, the curriculum to get there – including textbooks, lessons, teaching methods – is entirely controlled at the local level.
“Maine students deserve the best education in the world that they will one day lead,” said Governor LePage. “Higher standards play an important role in that, but the federal government does not. With my executive order, Maine is making clear that we set the standards for our state, that implementation of those standards is locally controlled, and that students and families have an unalienable right to their privacy that will never be infringed on so long as I am Governor.”
In addition to the executive order, the LePage Administration will continue to assert its constitutional right to
