Earlier this year, at the urging of Gov. Paul LePage, Maine lawmakers created a special commission on education policy. Its charge was to take a broad look at education policy at all levels.
After a shaky first step, LePage cast doubt on the future of the panel. But the commission chair insists it will continue on and offer full access to the public.
The commission started its work under a cloud. It first convened privately at LePage’s insistence for what he called a meet-and-greet, informal session. that gathering, according to Maine Attorney General Janet Mills, was in violation of the state’s open meetings law.
“There was a willful violation in good part because they were informed directly, specifically that the meeting of course is a public meeting.” she says.
Documents obtained under the state public records law support Mills’ case. They show that her office had informed Bill Beardsley, the chair of the commission, and staff at the Department of Education, that it must be open.
And on the day of the meeting, when gubernatorial aide Aaron Chadbourne was turning away lawmakers, members of the public and reporters from the Blaine House, the records indicate that Public Access Ombudsman Brenda Kielty sent several emails to the governor’s chief legal counsel, Avery Day, warning that it was illegal and demanding that it be open.
LePage belittled the concerns at a town meeting he held in Boothbay recently.
“The attorney general has got to give me, or the Department of Education, money to hire a lawyer. They’re going to get a fine, so they’re gonna have to give us money for the fine,” he says. “What a waste of time. Because before, when it first happened, she said, ‘There is nothing here, I don’t want to sue them.’“
Mills flatly denies that, again pointing to emails sent between the Department of Education and Day.
In a text message, Chadbourne, who has policy responsibility for education matters in the governor’s office, communicated to Day the governor’s position that the meeting would stay closed. He also wrote “Gov told me he doesn’t want future meetings open. He’d rather disband the Commission.”
Since the commission was created by law, the governor cannot disband the commission. But he could pull support for it and stymie its work. Bar Harbor Rep. Brian Hubbell, a Democrat, is a member of the Education Committee who tried to attend the first meeting of the commission.
“We all want a better educational system,” he says. “We want good use of our public funds to pay for it. This is — let’s sit down and talk about how that can happen.”
So far, there has been no second meeting, and now the panel is behind on deadlines set in the legislation. That concerns the ranking Republican on the Education Committee, Rep. Joyce Maker of Calais. She says there have been a lot of studies focused on parts of the education system, but a broader analysis, which the commission had set out to deliver, is needed.
“This commission was going to look at that and find out where the problems lie and if it doesn’t continue with their work, I’m not sure where we will be in the future,” she says.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Education Commissioner Bill Beardsley, who also chairs the special study panel, responded to the governor’s reported call to disband it.
“I’ve no intention as chair — nobody has told me to disband anything. I haven’t met with the commission on whether to do that or not,” he says. “Everybody came to the first meeting. I think there is genuine interest.”
When asked about the legal action pending over the first meeting of the commission, Beardsley said the private session was a mistake and promised that future meetings would be open.
“I don’t want to talk about the whole thing. I just want to focus on the next six meetings and they all are going to be public,” he says.
Beardsley says he wants the commission to tackle the tough job assigned by the Legislature. He says there is a learning gap in Maine that needs to be closed if the state is to proposer in the future. And he says the commission is committed to reforming the state’s entire education system.
Correction: Maine does not have an education commissioner, as was incorrectly stated in this story's original headline.
