The MEA comes after Paul LePage

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Looks like Al Diamon isn’t the only one who sees Waterville mayor Paul LePage as the one to beat in the race to be Maine’s next governor.

The Maine Education Association is coming after LePage in an op-ed in today’s Bangor Daily News.

The author of the piece, Joyce Blakney, is identified by the BDN as “a teacher in Waterville,” but she is actually the treasurer of the MEA AND president of the Waterville Teachers Association.

The BDN didn’t feel, evidently, that it was important to share this information with readers.

Nevertheless, Blakney argues in her piece that LePage and his budget cutting have brought ruin to Waterville schools.

Really?

Here is what has been going on with per-pupil spending (adjusted for inflation) in Waterville, courtesy of the school spending data tool available at www.greatschoolsforme.org:

Doesn’t look to me as though Waterville’s school spending has suffered under LePage’s leadership. In real, inflation adjusted terms, school spending in Waterville is up, up, up.

And besides which, who is it that ultimately approves school budgets in Waterville and in every other town and city in Maine? The voters.

According to the Waterville Morning Sentinel, the most recent school budget, the one that Ms. Blakney (who, according to MaineOpenGov.org, had a salary in of $56,439 in 2009) suggests is so destructive to Waterville schools, was overwhelmingly approved by Waterville voters. The vote was  2,352 in favor, 405 opposed.

Seems as though Waterville residents are satisfied with school spending in Waterville, even if the MEA is not.