Western Maine candidate forum on public education Sept. 25

LEWISTON — A legislative candidates’ forum focused on K-12 education is being held Thursday, Sept. 25, in Lewiston, bringing together those running for the Maine House and Senate in western Maine and the school boards and superintendents from the districts they serve.

The forum is scheduled to run from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Green Ladle, Lewiston Regional Technical Center. It is being co-sponsored by the Maine School Boards Association and Maine School Superintendents Association and is one of nine such forums being held across the state in September.

Maine School Management Association, the umbrella organization for MSBA and MSSA, is coordinating the forums and has prepared position papers reflecting the two organizations’ stand on key issues affecting public schools.

Candidates will be briefed on those issues and asked to give their views on public education.

The forum will cover the need for adequate school funding, including help for economically disadvantaged students, expanding prekindergarten programs, implementing teacher evaluations, protecting school boards’ legal right to adopt educational policy and the future of charter schools.