Noah Williams

If you stop to ponder for a moment the amount of people making more than $200,000 a year (roughly 2% of the population) and then consider the number of children enrolled in public school you would find that Question 2 is extremely important to Maine’s future.

Question 2 proposes a 3% tax on household incomes of those who make more than $200,000 a year, and applying those funds towards public K-12 education right here in Maine. “What’s the big deal?” you may ask incredulously.

Last year, the state spent $984 million on public education. If Question 2 passes, it is estimated that the tax will generate $157 million in the first year. If you combine the increase and state funding with the revenue generated through Question 2, then we will have increased our funding to public schools by almost $200 million.

Although there are stipulations as to what the money can be used for (money generated from the Question 2 tax cannot be used for teacher salaries) the increase in funding would allow schools to reevaluate priorities like having to choose between safe and healthy facilities and current industry standards in technology.

Most importantly this measure would ensure that all the money is no longer concentrated so heavily in southern Maine, and instead could be of use to students attending schools as far away as Presque Isle.

Many of us here at SMCC attended public K-12 schools in our youth and may even still have family or friends who are in the system. Imagine the impact that having functional computers and state of the art lab equipment would have had on your education. By voting yes on 2, you are giving this opportunity to 185,000 Maine youth who otherwise may never had had the chance.