Question 2 is the wrong solution for Maine’s education funding problem. Question 2 raises taxes, it doesn’t fund school infrastructure, and it creates more unfair funding distributions for Maine schools and towns.

Question 2 raises taxes, more than $157 million on Maine households. In fact, this law would make Maine’s top rate the second-highest in the nation, with a rate over 10 percent. Two-thirds of the taxpayers targeted by this extra income are community-based small business owners, many of them local family businesses.

Question 2 was written by the far-left progressive group the Maine Center for Economic Policy, and funded by national special interest groups to benefit the teachers union, not students. Towns struggling to pay for schools and other education infrastructure won’t get any help from this bill.

According to the fine print, most of the money raised by this new tax must be spent on salaries for teachers and other school personnel, meaning none of this new money can be spent on fixing school buildings, buying technology or providing materials for students. It usurps local control by dictating to local school boards where the money must be spent, not where the local need exists.

More than one third of the state’s local school districts would receive zero additional dollars raised from this new tax. That’s right. Towns like Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth and Scarborough get millions, while towns like Sedgwick, Greenville and West Bath get nothing. Sixty percent of the money raised from this new tax goes to 12 percent of towns. That is not fair.

What does this mean locally? Let’s look at Lewiston versus Scarborough in terms of funding. If Question 2 passes, Lewiston would receive $4 million in additional funding, but Scarborough would receive $5.2 million in additional funding.

Yes, Lewiston gets money, but Lewiston has more students — 5,473 versus only 2,939 in Scarborough. You would think Lewiston would get more than Scarborough.

Additionally, Lewiston has more infrastructure to support — eight schools — where Scarborough has six. To make it worse, 69 percent of Lewiston’s student population receive free and reduced lunch, kids who need more funding. Only 16 percent of Scarborough’s students do, yet Scarborough gets $1.2 million more than Lewiston. That is not fair!

We all support more funding for schools, but Question 2 is the wrong way to accomplish this goal.

All Maine public schools need to be adequately funded. Question 2 is just too vague and misleading with no guarantees. We should find a better way to give all Maine students the educational opportunities and experiences they deserve.

Question 2 is the wrong solution for Maine.

Dana Connors is president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at [email protected]