PLACE OF RESIDENCY: Brunswick

PARTY AFFILIATION: Unenrolled

PREVIOUS ELECTED EXPERIENCE: Brunswick School Board, two terms

Why are you running for a seat on the Brunswick School Board?

I am running for re-election to the School Board because I believe a smooth, seamless transition into the next three years will offer continuity and stability to our many new initiatives. The board has just completed long range strategic planning this past fall. I initially ran for the board six years ago because the Superintendent had indicated a need for strategic planning. Long range planning is critical for any school and I have served on the strategic planning committee since elected to the board. I would like to continue as we embark on making our new strategic framework a reality for all. A fully integrated student support services system has matured in the years I have chaired the Student Services committee. This year we embraced our Brunswick Real School regional program which will allow us to control costs as we provide a complete continuum of placement options for our students and students from other school districts. There is more work to do to complete a truly integrated system of support services, which includes a Brunswick pre-K school program. Similarly, I also am committed to building out an already robust professional development model into a highly effective one that supports our staff as they encounter increasingly diverse academic and social needs of students in our schools. I know that teachers and all our school staff put in extraordinary effort to educate all students, keep them safe and happy, and everyone perseveres in times of great social diversity and political challenge. I have been actively involved in the Personnel and Negotiations committee in contract negotiations for the last two years. My continued participation offers continuity in these negotiations as we work to find solutions that mutually benefit students, employees, the school department and taxpayers. Students and staff in our schools deserve a smooth, seamless transition of Board support as we move into the next three years of continued program planning.

How do you feel the school department’s facility needs should be addressed?

I believe it is imperative for us to keep moving forward in our new elementary school planning while simultaneously focusing our attention on the facility needs of the Junior High School. Aging facilities now hamper our ability to offer safe, modern educational programming. Overcrowding and continued elementary age population growth require us to remain steadfast in our facilities planning and maintenance. Brunswick’s 2008 Comprehensive Plan lists school facilities as a major goal for the town to achieve. We must plan our facilities in a way that allows flexibility for the unpredictable future as well as meet current desires. Coffin School was opened in 1955. Just a few short years later mobile classrooms were added to accommodate needs at the school. These decrepit mobiles still exist today more than 50 years later. The same has been true of the Brunswick Junior High School. Our newest school, Harriet Beecher Stowe school, is overcrowded. I believe we need to commit to building a new elementary school and junior high school in a way that maximizes the space utilization within the footprint of a building while finding ways to create small learning communities for students and teachers, and encourage community year-round use. Our newly adopted Strategic Framework includes exciting ideas for new programs choices that will come to life in our current and future buildings. We need space for these programs to be born and mature. New schools now have a predicted lifespan of up to 75 years. Just imagine the changes that occur within that timeframe! Maximum design flexibility in new schools now and continued yearly maintenance at all our schools allow future benefit of the significant financial investment we make now in new elementary and junior high schools. And hopefully we will not see another mobile classroom in our town!

Do you feel like Question 2 on the state ballot is an effective way to help fund public education?

Question 2 is sending the message that the public wants the Governor and Legislature to provide 55 percent of the cost of public education because they have never met this obligation since the 2003 referendum. Brunswick has shouldered the increasing gap between the cost of a comprehensive education and the amount provided by the state and the minimum local municipal shares. The problem is exacerbated by the EPS funding formula which determines the cost of a basic education rather than a comprehensive one, and the Governor and Legislature who included the cost of teacher retirement within the EPS calculations. This retirement cost to Brunswick for the first year was $350,000 and is forecasted to increase. The PICUS report commissioned by the Legislature in 2012 indicates that Maine underfunds education by $260 million a year. I am still conducting research to determine my vote on Question 2. Unequivocally, I support adequate public funding for a comprehensive education, not a basic one. I am waiting for responses to unanswered questions that will inform my vote on Question 2. Because there is limited space allowed in this forum, please see my blog ‘Question 2 and EPS Funding Formula’ on google at: clough747.blogspot.com for a more detailed discussion. The question no one has answered for me with a straight face is: If the people of Maine approve Question 2 like we approved the 55 percent referendum in 2003, can future governors and legislatures choose to ignore it? The answer seems clear: local municipalities, like Brunswick, will continue to have to raise additional funds to pay for a comprehensive education. Some towns can’t or won’t raise the minimum amount required by law. Local taxes will increase and students across Maine will receive different educations. We should all be concerned by both scenarios and this saga continuing in Augusta.