On October 8, the Portland Press Herald published an opinion piece by Maine State Rep. Michael Brennan titled, “A lot done for education in Maine; a lot more to do.” In it, Rep. Brennan praised himself and his Democratic colleagues for passing numerous education reforms. In the article, Rep. Brennan blames Republican legislators for focusing on the “culture war” and distracting from policies that make our education system “the best it can be.”
Notably, Brennan does not cite any statistics or data showing that Maine’s education system is in fact “the best it can be,” likely because it isn’t and no such data exist.
Rep. Brennan is correct about political culture wars, but not about them being one party’s problem. Even the incorruptible Rep. Brennan’s voting record shows partisan bias and culture war voting. Instead of focusing on across-the-aisle mudslinging, Maine lawmakers should focus on reforming the system at large to improve student achievement.
Despite Rep. Brennan’s “important work,” Maine’s education system is doing horribly. The United States uses the NAEP, referred to as the “nation’s report card,” to measure and compare students’ performance in different states. A recent Maine Policy Institute analysis showed that while Maine was ranked first or second in the nation for math and reading in the 1990s, by 2022, we were ranked 36th. Rep. Brennan was first elected in 2017, and since then, Maine’s NAEP ranking compared to other states has dropped around ten spots.
While it would be unfair to blame this change on any specific legislator, it’s inappropriate to assert that your policies have “positive impacts on students and parents” when the data show Maine’s education results are getting worse. Rep. Brennan has either supported or voted to pass bills which restrict education access and school choice, and he and his party have universally opposed legislation that would improve either area.
One example is LD 1089, which Rep. Brennan sponsored. This bill passed in 2023 and created additional barriers to charter schools by allowing the Maine DOE commissioner to veto charter school approvals. In the 130th Legislature, he also proposed LD 604, which reduced funding for charter schools. He and many other Democrats in the Legislature have also opposed bills to increase school transparency, improve school choice through education scholarships, and increase access to online alternative education programs.
Like most charter school expansion bills, these measures were opposed by Democrats in the Legislature. This is despite Maine’s charter schools serving special education students at twice the national average rate of public schools. Furthermore, limitations on charter schools remain an obstacle to the growing number of students on waiting lists. However, because charter schools and school choice appear to be a “culture war” issue to him, Rep. Brennan and his colleagues unite along party lines to kill any bill that increases access to education.
It appears the only thing Rep. Brennan does support is you being forced to send your kids to failing schools that don’t adequately accommodate your children.
Maine’s education system is failing abysmally, and culture war politics are stopping the Legislature from improving Maine’s education system because both parties are being distracted by book bans, DEI policies and more.
But it is a monumental irony that Rep. Brennan is complaining about partisan culture wars while routinely opposing bills sponsored by his Republican counterparts. An additional absurdity is his party line voting against education reforms that have widespread popularity (70% of parents support charter schools) and directly help disadvantaged and disabled students.