Passage of Question 5 would help grow Maine’s economy

By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer

    AUGUSTA — Citizens for Higher Education, a bipartisan group of Maine business and community leaders, has launched a statewide campaign to secure passage of Bond Question 5 on the Nov. 5 ballot.

    Question 5 will ask voters: “Do you favor a $15,500,000 bond issue to upgrade buildings, classrooms and laboratories on the seven campuses of the Maine Community College System in order to increase capacity to serve more students through expanded programs in health care, precision machining, information technology, criminal justice and other key programs?”
    The funds will enable the colleges to expand degree programs that are most requested by both students and employers.
    Citizens for Higher Education began airing the first of several TV ads two weeks ago. The ad profiles David Richardson of Ludlow, who lost his job in a local mill when his son was just a few days old. Richardson enrolled in a precision machining program at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle, earned his degree, and is now employed at Bison Pumps in Houlton.
    “Voting ‘Yes’ on 5 will build classrooms and add capacity so that thousands of Mainers will have the same opportunities I had,” said Richardson, noting that community colleges were “a lifeline” for him and his young family.
    If approved, Question 5 would enable the state’s community colleges to prepare more students for high wage/high demand jobs.
    As the group notes, even though the community colleges have grown 83 percent over the past decade, many students are still waiting to enroll and graduate.
    This logjam has serious implications for students, their families, and for employers who need more workers with the skills taught at the community colleges.
    Should voters OK the bond question, funds will include $2.45 million for Eastern Maine Community College. The funds would enable EMCC to expand Maine Hall, the college’s main academic building. The new addition will include classrooms, laboratories, and student life space to strengthen and expand the college’s academic programs.
    In addition to television commercials, Citizens for Higher Education has also created a Facebook page and list of the projects to be funded at each of Maine’s community colleges is at www.mccs.me.edu/bond2013.html.
    The group is chaired by the Honorable Daniel Wathen, former Maine Chief Justice and former chair of the Maine Community College System board of trustees.
    Its supporters are a bipartisan group of business and community leaders including former Maine Govs. John Baldacci and John R. McKernan, Jeanne Crocker, a Maine Principal of the Year recipient; Leon and Lisa Gorman, Tim Hussey, president and chief executive officer of Hussey Seating; Charles “Wick” Johnson, president and owner of Kennebec Technologies; Chris McCormick, president and chief executive officer of L.L. Bean; Shawn Moody, founder and president of Moody’s Collision Centers; Rich Petersen, president and chief executive officer of Maine Medical Center; and Elaine D. Rosen.