Edgecomb selectmen lobbied two local lawmakers June 5 to act on legislation important to the community. Selectmen asked State Rep. Stephanie Hawke (R-Boothbay Harbor) and State Sen. Dana Dow (R-Waldoboro) to support a bill expanding broadband internet around the state and to provide more money for k-12 education.

The legislators both support spending approximately $7 million to expand broadband internet statewide and believe it will be approved later this month. Hawke reported she has received many constituents’ calls supporting expansion. Dow called the plan “a good business decision which made sense.”

Selectmen also requested state government follow the law approved by citizens in past referendum votes providing more money for local kindergarten through grade 12 public schools. Edgecomb’s local kindergarten through grade six school receives 11 percent of its total funding from the state. In past years, state education subsidies have been reduced by two factors: state budget cuts and shrinking local enrollments. In 2009, Edgecomb received a $603,135 state subsidy. In 2018, the town will receive about $240,000, according to town officials.

The board requested Hawke and Dow support implementing two statewide referendums dedicated to producing more public education funding. One referendum was approved  in 2004 which required that 55 percent of all local, k-12 education and 100 percent of special education costs be assumed by the state. The second was approved last November. It imposed a 3 percent surtax on incomes over $200,000. Selectmen and local residents complained about bearing too much of the burden for local education costs. Selectman Mike Smith said it would be a big help to the community if the state followed through on at least one of the voter-approved referendums.

“I can understand where the state sees us as a wealthy community and the 55 percent may never be attained, but at least choose one. If the state funded special education at 100 percent that saves local taxpayers $300,000 per year,” he said.

The legislators didn’t think their voices would have much impact on the biennial state budget slated for a vote at month’s end. “At this point, all we can do is vote up or down,’ Hawke said.

Dow believed the state’s educational system needs reform more than additional funding. Dow owns a furniture store in Waldoboro and is a former high school teacher and school board member. He believes the state’s educational funding formula needs a major overhaul. The state’s education problem stems from a declining population which has resulted in a loss of 74,000 students in the state’s k-12 enrollment since 1972, according to Dow.

“We’ve gone from 251,000 students to 177,000. Young families are moving out of the state and that’s not a healthy situation. As chair of the taxation committee, people keep asking for a bigger piece of the pie that is constantly getting smaller,” he said.

The selectmen asked about Hawke’s bill earlier in the session which would have amended the Lincoln County budget process. The bill would have created a 20-person budget committee with final say over the county budget. The bill failed in the House of Representatives and wasn’t voted on in the Senate. Smith appealed to have the bill reintroduced in a future legislative session.

“We were told to expect a 1.5 percent county tax increase and it turned out, for the second year in a row, to be substantially more. It’s way out of sight, and I hope you keeping pursuing this,” he said.

Hawke said the bill became “a partisan issue” which led to its defeat. At the legislative session’s end, she plans on working with other municipal leaders toward creating a Lincoln County Charter. The Legislature’s State and Local Government members advised Hawke a county charter may be a better alternative to changing the budget process through legislative approval.

The selectmen will meet next at 6 p.m., Monday, June 19 in the municipal building.