Comments | ontd_political: Maine Governor Paul LePage Threatens to Close Schools Over Budget Crisis

curseangel in ontd_political

Maine Governor Paul LePage Threatens to Close Schools Over Budget Crisis

Jan 22, 2012 00:29

Schools get tossed into budget-cut warnings

Gov. Paul LePage says he will have to shut down Maine's schools in May if the Legislature does not accept deep spending cuts in the Department of Health and Human Services.

But it's not clear whether he has the legal authority to close schools.

"Right now, in order to continue the way we are, I will ( Read more... )

this is why we cant have nice things, maine, education, how to win friends and influence people

Comments 15

spyral_path January 22 2012, 06:49:16 UTC

Federal law mandates that all children with a disabilities receive a free and appropriate public education, so that makes it illegal for him to completely shut down the schools, unless there are no students in the entire state with disabilities.

curseangel January 22 2012, 08:03:10 UTC

They'll just send all the students with disabilities to Fryeburg Academy, obviously (it's semi-public / private unless you live there), obviously.

No, really though, even without considering that, he literally can't close down the schools. The legislature and the local governments where each and every school is located would all have to agree to do so, and they're not going to do that. He's just trying to scare people.

What he can do is cut the budget for the schools some more, or try to, which he probably will. LePage is one of the worst kinds of anti-welfare, anti-education, anti-people Republicans.

eveofrevolution January 22 2012, 06:53:29 UTC

curseangel January 22 2012, 07:59:23 UTC

Oh, thanks! I added those.

kyra_neko_rei January 22 2012, 07:50:48 UTC

I think there's a "this is why we can't have nice things" tag.

Is there an "assholes" tag, or would that be monumentally overused?

curseangel January 22 2012, 07:59:41 UTC

I added the first one. Dunno about the second though. It'd... definitely be appropriate, ugh.

farchivist January 22 2012, 15:16:41 UTC

Ah, here we have the latest in LePage dickery. It's been terribly refreshing to see just about everyone in Maine start telling him "STFU, asshole." whenever he opens his mouth. Since the wonderfuckery that he started at the beginning of his term, hasn't just about everyone decided he won't be there for a second term?

pandaseal January 22 2012, 20:16:00 UTC

Yeah, there seems to be zero chance of a second term, thank god. I literally start to tense up whenever I see or hear his name.

curseangel January 22 2012, 21:51:39 UTC

Seriously. At this point even my mom hates him, and she voted for the guy (because "he'll bring jobs!" ..no, mum, paying corporations to build factories in Maine is not a solution it's idiocy). I'll be glad if they vote in someone less of an asshole next time.

farchivist January 22 2012, 21:52:39 UTC

So do you ever ask her about all those jobs he was supposed to bring?
Because I sure would.

erunamiryene January 22 2012, 16:00:41 UTC

This is why my answer to "what do you feel is the biggest threat facing public education today?" on the survey I got from one of my representatives was "Republicans".

Can Maine recall governors? Cause damn, this asshat needs to go.

curseangel January 22 2012, 21:49:48 UTC

I believe Maine can recall governors... but I'm not positive on that (haven't lived full-time in Maine since I hit 18). I do know that when I plugged "maine governor" into Google, its second auto-result (after "maine governor paul lepage") was "maine governor recall". So here's hoping. If I find out there's a recall effort, I'll be sending the info to my mum right away.