When most Mainers lived on farms, Good Will-Hinckley was built to be a place where orphaned or unwanted children could get an education and a chance at a decent life.

Over the years, it has been reborn and reborn again, adjusting to the complex needs of a changing society. The newest iteration calls for implementing some of the most advanced ideas in education policy, but it is still closely linked to life on the farm.

As proposed, Good Will-Hinckley would be the home of the state’s second magnet school, a public boarding school with a focus on agriculture and sustainability delivered with a hands-on approach to learning. The student body would include young people who are not thriving in a traditional classroom setting and who could be in danger of falling through the cracks and dropping out. The school would be developed in conjunction with Kennebec Valley Community College, which would have an opportunity for a much-needed expansion of its regular program, while offering high school students a chance to take college-level courses.

The collaboration helps ease the transition between secondary and higher education, which has been identified for some time as a barrier to success. Many students who manage to earn a diploma still drop out during their first year of college, sometimes because they were not prepared to do college-level work or were intimidated by a new environment.

The Good Will-Hinckley community college collaboration would start to address that problem. It’s part of Gov. LePage’s budget proposal, and we hope it gets the support it needs from the Legislature to open its doors in September.