In a recent, impromptu press conference, Gov. Paul LePage lamented the failure of baby boomers to live up to the promise of the “greatest generation” before them. His frustration is understandable if one considers what those who lived through the Great Depression and World War II sacrificed for the good of all. LePage’s perception seems to be that many boomers have been unwilling to sacrifice for the greater society.

We say that one of the bedrocks of that society is the right to a good public education. That’s something the Maine voters recognized in a 2003 referendum requiring the state to fund up to 55 percent the cost of public education. The state legislature has never met that mandate.

In the intervening years, ironically, both state and federal governments have continued to place their own, unfunded mandates on schools. This puts pressure on schools, strains relations with municipal governments and leaves it up to the property tax payer to make up the shortfall.

Question 2 would help by placing a 3 percent surcharge on household income greater than $200,000 to generate about $157 million for public schools classroom instruction.

This charge would impact about 2 percent of all Maine households, according to Yes On 2 proponents.

Moreover, Question 2 seeks to shift the tax burden from property tax payers.

Opponents, such as the Maine Heritage Policy Center, paint a dire picture of the rich packing up and moving out of Maine to New Hampshire or Florida.

That argument makes us wonder — are any of those high rollers going to invest in a state without good schools?

At the K-1/multi-age Coffin Elementary School in Brunswick, faculty and staff work hard for and care deeply about children that are in a crucial stage of development. Their facility, however, is more than 60 years old, plagued with safety issues and is badly in need of replacement. Yet legitimate cost concerns have repeatedly delayed new construction, as well as a more comprehensive repair of the ailing Brunswick Junior High School.

The cost for that project is $33.6 million, likely paid for through a bond, borne by the property tax payers.

In light of that, the $3 million to offset the cost of instruction in Brunswick promised by Question 2 starts to look pretty darn good.

Unless you are in the rare percentile that can afford a private school, the chances are that your child’s education, and that of his or her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, was paid for through tax dollars. The difference is that, today, we demand more of our schools than at any other point in history.

It’s time to ask the wealthiest among us to give more to support the next generation. That’s not a sacrifice too great to ask.

That is why Question 2 gets our endorsement.