Since 2011, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, a Boston-based organization born of a multi-billion dollar student loan sale to Sallie Mae, has pumped over thirteen million dollars in grants to non-profits and public schools in Maine to promote their agenda of having all Maine schools award “proficiency-based” diplomas.

The mandate, enacted in 2012, requires that all students demonstrate “proficiency” in eight subject areas in order to receive a high-school diploma. Championed by a Nellie-Mae funded organization, Educate Maine, and our own Department of Education, this mandate has allowed newly formed organizations such as the Great Schools Partnership and the Reinventing Schools Coalition, each of which have also been beneficiaries of multi-million dollars grants from Nellie Mae, to establish contracts with local school districts to guide them as they transition new way of structuring our local schools.

The law, which these organizations have gone to great lengths to promote as a progressive, “student-centered” method of learning, is in fact an attempt to push digital and online learning on our public schools. LD 1422 is now listed as model legislation on the website of Jeb Bush’s controversial Foundation for Excellence in Education, which partners with the far right wing American Legislative Exchange Council, well known for its efforts to privatize public education. On this website, the law is coded with a “D,” for digital learning.

While technology certainly has a place in our classrooms, there is no research to support the idea that this form of learning is best for our children.

Despite the millions invested by Nellie Mae, this transition has been wrought with difficulty for many districts in our state. Meanwhile, companies like Microsoft, Apple, and startup software companies like JumpRope, have received thousands from our local budgets to support this new model of learning, leaving little behind for needs like additional teachers and edtechs.

In the wake of major pushback against standardized testing and the new Common Core State Standards, this mandate cannot go overlooked. It is time for Mainers to start asking who is responsible for this overhaul of our public schools, and who truly stands to benefit.

Emily Talmage Auburn