Once again, educators in Maine find themselves in a no-win situation. An earlier governor used the teachers’ retirement fund to balance the budget. Now, that unfunded debt, through no fault of teachers, has become a financial burden that the current governor and his supporters hope to transfer to Social Security or a 401(k) system.

There has been talk of amending the state constitution, or even declaring the state bankrupt to avoid or delay the payment of that debt.

Teachers denied full Social Security benefits have been denied a promised cost-of-living increase and threatened with the complete elimination of their COLA.

Recently, the governor has indicated that savings could be acquired by eliminating some teachers and creating larger classes. Since one on one has been determined by educational experts to be the best method of transferring knowledge to youngsters, classes of 30 or more would be disastrous, even for the most highly qualified teachers.

Charter schools, which are favored by many, would focus on the best students, ignoring the average, special and late bloomers.

People with limited skill and others with obvious conflicts of interest have been selected for office and are bound to create situations where economic, social and environmental safeguards will be altered or destroyed. Some would sacrifice the natural beauty of the state for profit by opening up the North Woods for developers.

Randomly attacking educators and the educational system can only bring about a chaotic situation which would benefit no one but the chosen few.

Marcel Pare, Lewiston